You make me sick
by aurora borealis1
Summary: My first Lily/James fic. It's rather a love/hate story...although Lily's doing most of the hating. PG13 because some things Lily call James, and maybe other stuff later... (EPILOGUE POSTED.)
1. The Head Students

**You make me sick**

Disclaimer: Everything you recognise from the HHPB is not mine. If anything you recognise from your/somebody else's story, it's not copied from that story on purpose: I didn't know. Only one thing is copied: The nickname Lily's father gave her. Sorry, Someone the First, I just loved that nickname. I say that everybody should read Someone the First's story 'The Parents who Died', AFTER YOU READ MINE.

A/N: Yes, I know that I should write on my other HP story, but the only story I feel that I can put down on the paper right now is this! So please, forgive me!

Introduction:

__

Lily Evans was in the sixth year at Hogwarts in the Ravenclaw House. She had lovely, copper red hair falling in curls down below her shoulder blades, fair skin with golden freckles and brilliant green eyes. She was smart (she was in Ravenclaw after all), had wits, a figure most of the girls at school only dreamed about, and a temperament and attitude to match her hair. She wasn't exactly among the popular girls at school, maybe because she was 'hard to get'.

James Potter was also a sixth year. He played captain and Chaser in the Gryffindor House Team. He had messy black hair and hazelnut brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. He was the most popular boy at school, with girls swarming all over him. He was the teachers' nightmare; he got top grades and also had the record of breaking rules along with his fellow 'Marauders'. He was clever. He was smart. He was tall. He was handsome. He was charming. In the female part of school's opinion he was perfect.

And Lily Evans hated his guts.

***

"Promise to write," her mother said and hugged her.

"I will," Lily said and hugged her back. "Bye, mum."

"Bye, darling."

"Bye, Tiger!" her father said from the driver's seat in the car. Petunia hadn't bothered to come – not that Lily cared.

"Bye, dad."

She went into the station and through the magical barrier. She waved at Laura, a girl from her class.

"Hi, Lily! You wanna share a compartment with me an' Syn?" Syn was another girl from their dorm, and came from China.

"No, sorry," Lily said, showing Laura her new badge. "I get a compartment by my own..."

"Wow, Lily!" Laura said, clearly impressed. "You've become Head Girl! And in the sixth year, too!"

"Yeah, that's a bit unusual, isn't it?" Lily smiled. "I hope the Head Boy isn't a totally jerk...I mean, we're going to be doing stuff together."

"What kinda stuff?" Laura asked curiously.

"Sorry," Lily said with a smile. "Top secret."

"You don't know, do you?"

"Not really..." Lily confessed. They laughed.

"See you at the Feast, then!" Laura said, and they went to their different compartments.

***

The Head Boy didn't show up in the reserved compartment during the train trip to Hogwarts, although Lily didn't really care.

After the Sorting, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Just a few words before we start to eat. First: we've got a new Transfiguration teacher: Professor McGonnagal." Lily recognised the young, strict looking woman at the staff table as one girl who had graduated only three years before. (A/N: Honestly, McGonnagal isn't _that_ old, you know.) Lily turned her attention back to Dumbledore as he continued. "I would also like to introduce the new Head Girl and Boy. This year, we've picked out two from the sixth year: the seventh years will be too busy to do anything of the Head Students' tasks. It is miss Evans and mister Potter."

Lily went into a numb sort of shock, barely hearing all the cheering (mostly for James Potter) and Laura and Syn shreaking:

"You get to be with James Potter, Lily!!! _James Potter!!!_ You are sooooooo lucky!"

"No," Lily croaked. She noticed that several jealous looks were shot at her.

"What?" Syn asked.

"Anyone," Lily said, burying her face in her hands. "Anyone at the whole school, and they had to pick _him_..." Syn looked confused at her.

"She doesn't like James Potter," Laura explained. Now Syn looked at Lily like she was nutters. Lily hated it when they looked at her like she was some kind of alien.

The food appeared on the plates. Laura looked over at Lily.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" she asked. Lily stared at the food.

"I've lost my appetite," she said an went out of the Hall.

*

"Wow, James! Head Boy!" Remus exclaimed.

"You did it, Prongs!" Sirius grinned.

"Congratulations!" squeaked Peter.

"Um, do any of you guys know who this _Evans_ girl is?" James asked.

"It's that red head in Ravenclaw," Remus said. "Honestly, you should know that. She _is_ right behind you in the grades score."

"Oh, it's _her_," James said disappointed.

"You don't exactly sound over-ecstatic," Sirius observed.

"It's just that I don't think she likes me, that's all," James said. Sirius and Remus snorted.

"You can't expect _every_ girl in school to like you," Sirius said. He was almost as popular as James.

"I don't think she likes you, either," James said. This time Sirius was the one to look disappointed.

"She doesn't exactly look over-happy, I agree on that," Remus said. Sirius looked over at the Ravenclaw table. There, the 'red head' had buried her head in her hands, with two girls cheering around her. Suddenly she jerked up from the table and went through the doors.

"Poor Prongs," Sirius murmured in a mock sympatising tone. James ignored him.

***

"Here you go," Lily said, dumping down on a chair. "Time tables. What do we have first?"

"We have..." Laura checked her time table and squealed, making Syn spray milk all over a guy at the opposite side of the table.

"Oh no," Lily muttered. "Don't say we've got-"

"We've got flying lessons with the _Gryffindors_!" Laura squealed. Syn joined in.

"Look! Afterwards, we have _Charms_ with the Gryffindors! And then-"

"How many subjects do we _have_ with the Gryffindors?" Lily asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Laura counted.

"Seven," she said with a smug smile. Lily hit her head in the table. "Oops, sorry," Laura giggled. "It's _eight._" Lily hit her head several more times in the table. "Oh, Lily," Laura sighed, oblivious to the suicidal look in Lily's eyes. "Think! We get to be with the Gryffindors for _all but three_ subjects!" Another dreamy sigh. Lily's head banging increased in earnest.

"We get to see James Potter and Sirius Black _at least twice a day_!" Syn put in, also wearing that dreamy look. Lily stopped banging her head, feeling slightly dizzy. She stood up.

"Where are you going?" Laura asked surprised.

"I've gotta see Dumbledore," Lily replied.

"What for?" Syn asked confused.

"To complain," Lily shouted as she walked out of the Hall.

"Complain about what?" Laura and Syn asked each other in unison.

***

Lily stopped outside the gargoyle trying to remember the password she and (shudder) Potter had got.

"Spluttering Butterbeer," she said. The gargoyle sprang aside to reveal a door. Lily went through and up the spiral staircase. She knocked on a new door.

"Come in," Dumbledore said. Lily went through. He was sitting in a cosy arm chair reading the Daily Prophet. "Ah, miss Evans. What do you want to talk about?" He smiled friendly at her.

"I, um, I was wondering," Lily said uncertainly.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could fix the time tables, sir. It seems that there has been a mistake."

"What mistake?"

"Well, Ravenclaw has been teamed up with Gryffindor for every subject but Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes and Potions."

"Ah," Dumbledore said, hiding a little smile. "I'm sorry, miss Evans. That is no mistake."

"But...aren't we supposed to have equally many lessons with the other three Houses?"

"Yes, that is true...but this year we have found out that we would try a new thing."

"So we have to be with the Gryffindors?"

"You have to be with the Gryffindors."

"Then, sir," Lily said taking a deep breath. "I would like to know if I could quit from being the Head Girl."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want that?" he asked.

"I feel that I won't be able to co-operate with the Head Boy."

"I'm sorry, miss Evans," Dumbledore said. "That is not possible. You have been selected."

"But-" Lily protested.

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore interrupted her. "One of the things you shall learn at this school is to co-operate with everybody. And I mean _everybody_, miss Evans. That includes mister Potter."

"All right," Lily said, defeated.

"Have a good day at the flying lessons, miss Evans," Dumbledore called after her as she went down the stairs, his eyes twinkling.

"As if," she muttered, although Dumbledore heard her.

"Hmmm, this should be interesting," Dumbledore said. "Don't you think, Fawkes?" The phoenix nodded in agreement on it's perch on one of the bookshelves.

***

"QUIET!!!" Madame Windes blew in her whistle. Hard. Lily winced at the sound. At last the class fell silent. 

"Today, we will work on our flying abilities," madame Windes said, pacing in front of the students – much like an officer in front of an army. "We will see how fast we can fly, how much control we have, and so on. And I _do not want any trouble._" She shot a meaningful glance at James and Sirius. They only shrugged and went back to flirting with the girls around them. Lily looked at them with disgust.

"Now, I want you to fly in groups." Madame Windes went along the line of students, saying "One. Two. Three. Four." At the end of the line, she turned around again and continued talking. "Group one goes over there," she pointed at a marked field. "Group two goes over there, group three there and group four stays here. You are going to play 'it'. Keep inside your own field."

Lily went over to the other 'threes', only to find-

"Oh, no. Not you again," she groaned.

"What?" James asked. Lily just glared at him and went over to the other girl – one from Gryffindor.

"Hi," the girl said. "You're the Head Girl, right?"

"Yeah. Um...Molly, isn't it?"

The girl smiled and nodded. "You're Lily, right?"

"Yep. Sorry for me asking," Lily leaned closer to Molly and whispered, "but are you a...Potter fan?"

Molly laughed. "Heavens, no! I already have a boyfriend."

"Oh, good," Lily said relieved. "I'm not entirely alone, after all."

Molly's eyes twinkled. "So, who do you like, then?"

"Nobody," Lily said.

"Nobody?"

"Yeah, I don't find anyone worth liking."

"Ah. That's okay. But just so you know it: Arthur is _mine_."

"Arthur Weasley?" Molly nodded. "Nice," Lily smiled. Molly returned the smile.

"My thought exactly."

Just then Madame Windes came towards their group. "Are you ready?" she asked. They all said "Yes." "Okay. James, you've got 'it'."

The students shot into the air. James immediatly flew after Sirius, which also was in their group. Just as Sirius turned a different direction, James gave 'it' to Molly, who was taken by surprise.

"Idiot," Lily muttered. "Couldn't give 'it' to a boy, could he?" Molly didn't fly very well, so she had problems giving away 'it' again. Lily 'accidently' oversaw Molly when she flew up from behind and gave Lily 'it'. Sirius and James laughed. _You just watch, Potter,_ Lily thought. She flew after Sirius, who didn't have any problems flying from her in the slow measure she was flying. As they went by James, Lily suddenly turned and raced at a much higher speed after James. She saw that he was startled, but ducked under her all the same. She turned again, and the hunt was on.

"She's never gonna make it," Sirius said to a Ravenclaw boy in their group as they watched Lily racing after James.

"Watch," the Ravenclaw said simply. He didn't doubt Lily's flying abilities: the only reason she wasn't on the House team was that she wasn't so interested in Quidditch.

They flew up and down, forward and – one time, in James' case – backwards. James was surprised that Lily kept up. Lily, on the other hand, was only concentrating on giving him 'it'. Just as James took a sharp turn and flew under Lily, she took a tight grip around her broom with her legs, and let herself hang downwards, straight in James' path. James was so startled he forgot to swing, and she gave him 'it'. Still hanging upside down, she flew out of his reach. James just gaped at her.

***

"Wow, Lily," Molly said as they walked up to the castle again. "That trick was great."

"You think so?" Lily smiled shyly. "I've never used it before. I mean, without a big bunch of mattresses under me."

"I can't believe you dared do it."

"Well, he was pissing me off," Lily tried to explain.

"How?" Molly asked.

"By being him," Lily said.

"You don't like him at all, do you," Molly said with a sudden insight.

"I hate him," Lily replied. Molly suddenly looked sympathising.

"And you two being Head Girl and Head Boy," she said, patting Lily's shoulder. Lily nodded.

"On top of it all, almost every class I've got is with the Gryffindors," she said despairingly. Then she suddenly remembered that Molly was one. "But maybe that's not so bad. Now when I've found another girl who doesn't talk about Potter or Black every minute."

Molly laughed at this. "I mean it!" Lily said. "All they ever talk about is 'Oh, James Potter is soooo cute!' 'He's soooo good at Quidditch!' 'Sirius Black is the most handsome boy at school!'" Lily said this in a very 'girlish' tone of voice. "It drives me crazy. And now they've started with 'Oh, you're sooooo lucky, Lily!' too."

"And I thought that the Ravenclaws were smart and clever," Molly said, shaking her head.

"Well, some of us get a bit much of the teenage hormones."

"Poor you."

"You said it, girl."

A/N: Sooo, what d'ya think? You know the routine: review, and I write more. Yup. Use the little box under here and you make my life a hole lot more worthy.


	2. Pranks and a little else

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I loved them! ^_^ I was thinking that I should write the usual thank you-list, but that wouldn't be too interesting for you, so...But one thing to Kewl Jewel: I know Lily probably was in the Gryffindor House, but I wanted her in Ravenclaw. But, if she was the bravest of them all (which she were), shouldn't she be in Hufflepuff? Or maybe she couldn't be there because she wasn't the stupid!brave, but the smart!brave...

Is McGonnagal really seventy years old? Anyway, here's... (and for those who doesn't know, Lily is _really_ fond of her freckles)

****

You make me sick: Chapter two: Pranks and a little else

"I HATE HIM!!!!!!" Lily screamed as she slammed the door of their dorm shut.

"What has he done now?" Laura asked lazily – the other girls had got used to Lily's outbursts during this first month of school.

"He...he..." Lily said, lost for words. "He...GOD, I HATE HIM!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know that," Syn said and turned another page of the Witch Weekly she was reading, licking her lollipop and dangling with her legs from her bed (which she was lying on on her stomach).

"Soo, what did he do?" Laura repeated. She was always eager to eager to hear about what James Potter did at all times – after all, she _was_ 'a Potter fan'.

"He turned my freckles green," Lily hissed through clenched teeth. All the girls looked up at her for the first time.

"Your freckles _are_ green," Syn said.

"That's what I said, stupid."

"It doesn't really suit you," Laura said.

"I'm aware of _that_!"

"Um, so why don't you turn them back to the normal colour?"

"Because he cast a protective spell on them!"

"He _what_?"

"He. Cast. A. Protective. Spell. On. Them. That. Means. I. Can't. Change. Them. With. A. Mag. Ic. Spell." Lily closed her eyes. _Deep breaths, now. Deep, deep breaths. Calm down. Don't go mad, now._

"Go to the Hospital Wing," Syn suggested.

"That would only give Potter troubl- Heeey, I think I'll do that," Lily said, suddenly looking pleased.

"Uh-oh," Laura said. "She's up to something."

"Oh, no," Syn agreed. "I think I'll go and warn James."

"Don't you _dare_," Lily hissed. Syn backed off.

"Okay, okay," she said. "I'll not tell him."

"Good." And Lily went swiftly out of the door. They heard the armour scramble back in place after her. The girls silently counted to ten.

"You know, he'll probably be very grateful towards us if we warn him," Laura said thoughtfully. The girls looked at each other for half a second, before they raced out of the dorm and ran towards the Gryffindor Common Room – at least what they _hoped_ was the Gryffindor Common Room.

Lily watched them run, and shook her head. "Traitors," she muttered. "I hate you, James Potter. You brainwash them." Then she headed towards the Library – it was the most unlikely place for Potter to be, so there was where he would be.

***

James seethed with anger. Honestly, why did she take it so bad? He'd only changed her _freckles._ What was so damn bad about that? Nothing. Nothing at all. But nooooo. She just had to have revenge and turned his hair blond. _Blond._ He couldn't believe it. She had actually turned his hair _blond._ And following his example, had put a protective spell on it. Therefore, he had to go to the Common Room to get a pair of scissors – his wand wouldn't work to cut his hair. That was the easy thing with his hair – it always grew back again. And that hair wouldn't have been damaged by that damn bleaching spell.

But until he got a pair of scissors, James just had to live with the humiliation. Everybody who passed him stared at him in shock, before they started to laugh uncontrollably.

Unfortunately for James, there was a long way from the library to the Gryffindor Common Room.

For Lily, though, that was good: she got plenty of time to take pictures. After a while, James spotted her as she followed him. She just grinned evilly at him, and hid before he could hex her.

__

I'm gonna get you for this, Evans, James thought.

***

Lily headed for the Great Hall to breakfast, skipping and humming cheerfully as she went. Right before reaching it, she was hit by a very hyperactive sixth year.

"BLACK! GET OFF ME!" she screamed, and scrambled to her feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Giving you a hug because you made my life better?" Sirius asked innocently and got up too.

"Can I ask _why_ I made your life better?"

"You're a nice hair-dresser."

"Ah." Lily couldn't help it: she had to grin.

"Unfortunately, it only lasted as long as he didn't cut it. We did our best, of course." Sirius looked very sad.

"You just wait 'till the owls come, then," Lily said with a mysterious wink.

"Right...wait! Hey! What did you mean by that?" Sirius called after her, but she had already gone inside the Hall.

"Sooo," James said, appearing beside Sirius. "Did you do it?"

"Prongs," Sirius said with a look of innocence that really didn't suit him, "what do you think I am? Of course I did it." They grinned at each other. "But I'll love to see Lily's little surprise for us," Sirius added. He earned a hit in the head.

***

The morning owls appeared. Although this was normal sight, the sight which came with them wasn't: At least a hundred owls were carrying an enormous bag between them. When they reached the middle of the Hall, they flew upwards (the weight of the bag had dragged them down) and tipped the bag. Maybe a thousand small pieces of parchment went flying down, landing in butter, collars, hair, laps, juice, dishes, glasses, and so on. One parchment landed on the slice of bread Professor McGonnagal was going to put in her mouth. She looked at it, and almost choked. The students curiously picked up the parchments and looked at them. Then they looked over at James Potter, who tried to hide his tomato red face. Sirius and Remus were howling with laughter – they had got a whole bunch of parchments.

"I'm going to kill her," James muttered. "She is so dead." He looked over at the Ravenclaw table, were Lily sat. She looked enormously pleased – until the girls beside her informed her that she was sprouting a fox tail. "She deserved it," James muttered, as Lily ran out of the Hall – probably heading for the Hospital wing.

"Damn," James said to himself. "Now she'll probably get rid of those freckles too..." He tried to ignore all the students howling with laughter at the pictures of him with blonde hair which had fallen from the ceiling.

***

"Potter, Evans, could I speak with you?" Professor McGonnagal stopped the two students in their tracks towards the corridor.

"Sure," James said and walked over. Lily said nothing.

"You two are, as Head Girl and Head Boy, to come to professor Dumbledore's office tonight at eight o'clock," McGonnagal said.

"At the same time?" Lily said in a strangled sort of tone.

"Yes, Evans. What did you think?" McGonnagal looked at her.

"Sorry," Lily muttered.

"You may go now," McGonnagal said in a dismissive tone. "Oh, and Evans," she called after Lily. "I would say you should work more on your transfiguration homework and in the lessons if you want to keep up."

"Yes, professor," Lily said and turned again, blushing furiously.

"What?" James asked.

"Don't talk to me, Potter," was all Lily said as she walked fast down the corridor. "Are you going to stand there all day?" she called to him as she walked. "You're going to be late for Charms."

__

What's up with her? James wondered, before the swarm of girls around him pressed all thoughts of Lily out of his mind.

***

James watched Lily thoughtfully from his usual place at the back of the class.

"Everybody look here!" professor Flitwick said from his high stool. "Evans has mastered the charm perfectly! Ten points to Ravenclaw."

The other students turned their attention away from their (unsuccessful) summoning of Guides (a species of tiny fairies who guided wizards and witches through different tasks or on travels). Lily was surrounded by Guides, all with different colours. It almost looked like she was sitting inside a rainbow.

"Earth to James," Sirius said beside him. "Earth calling James...are you in there?"

"Shut up, Padfoot," James said irritably.

"What is it with you?" Remus asked. "You've been staring at Evans all lesson."

"Nothing," James said absently.

"And I'm professor McGonnagal," Sirius said sarcastically. "Come on, Prongs, what is it?"

"It's nothing...just a little thing McGonnagal said..."

"What?" They looked curiously at him. He looked lost in thoughts for a moment, before he 'waked up'.

"Moony, why is it that Evans is only third best?"

They gaped at him. "What?" they said simultaneously.

"Why is it that Evans only is third best in the top grades?" James repeated.

"Um...I'm not quite sure..." Remus said.

"Well, as you can see, she's absolutely brilliant in Charms. I mean, nobody else has even summoned _one_ Guide yet."

"Yes...I think she's got some problems with Transfiguration," Remus said, thinking hard.

James hit his palms together with a loud clap. "That's it, then!" he said, grinning.

"What's it?" Sirius and Remus asked.

"Hmmm? Nothing. I'll tell you later if it works." And James started trying to summon Guides – although it didn't really work, since he was humming all the time.

"Maybe we should take him to the Hospital wing," Remus suggested.

"No," Sirius disagreed. "We'll just see what he's up to. Much more fun that way."

***

Lily looked at the clock in the Common room. Five minutes 'till she had to be in Dumbledore's office... Just enough time for her to not be late. She went through the hole in the wall as the armour scrambled away, and walked calmly down the corridor. _Don't make me meet Potter, don't make me meet Potter,_ she prayed inside her head. Unfortunately for her, the Fates was feeling mischievous that day.

"OOF!" Lost in thought, she crashed into someone and they fell to the floor, the other person on top of her.

"I see you've turned your freckles back," a all-too-familiar voice said. Lily stared up at James' grinning face.

"POTTER! GET OFF ME THIS INSTANT!" she yelled, trying to push him off her. It didn't work.

"I don't think so," James grinned. "I feel quite comfortable here..."

"Potter..." Lily said in a dangerous tone, murder in her eyes.

James leaned closer so that their faces only were half an inch apart. "I didn't quite hear you," he said and grinned at her. Since Lily's arms and legs were pinned down by his weight, she did the first thing that entered her mind: She moved her head upwards (so that her mouth wouldn't touch his) and bit him. James jumped up from her, clutching his nose.

"JESUS!" he exclaimed. "What did you do that for?!"

"I don't like boys lying over me in corridors," she said shortly and stood up.

"You like them doing it other places?" James' voice was slightly muffled because he tried to stop his nose bleeding.

"No. And I'm not talking to you, Potter."

Potter shot daggers at her back as she went down the corridor. _Oh, yeah,_ he thought. _Dumbledore._

And he ran after her.

***

"Hello, my dears," Dumbledore said as they entered. Then he noticed James' bloody nose. "Oh, my. What happened to you?" He said.

"She bit me," James said, staring accusingly at Lily.

"That was just because he refused to move off me!" Lily defended herself.

"Ah," was Dumbledore's only reply, a strange twinkle in his eyes. He waved his wand, and the biting marks on James' nose closed up. He handed James a handkerchief.

"Anything else I should know?" he asked, smiling.

"Besides that I can't work with this b-..._guy_?" Lily stopped herself from saying a much worse word when she remembered she was talking to the Headmaster.

"You have already told me that," Dumbledore said calmly, although that twinkle in his eyes was getting merrier and merrier. Luckily for him, James and Lily didn't notice it.

"Well, then, I think we should come straight to the point," Dumbledore said, suddenly all business. "We were thinking of having a ball this year. The tradition says that the Head Boy and Head Girl are to arrange it. That means you." He nodded at James and Lily. "You will decide when to have it, and what there will be to eat and drink, what kind of decorations and so on. You will get help from the teachers and I if you need any, and get money from me – but I want to see the list of things you need to buy first."

"All the different years are invited?" James asked.

"I don't think the first to third years should be. It may get a little late and such. That's all," Dumbledore said. They went to the door. "Oh, and please try not to fight," he called after them as they went down the stairs.

"Say that to _her_," was James' reply – quickly followed by slap and an "Ouch."

***

"Where are you going, Lily?" Syn looked up from her _Witch Weekly_.

"To the library," came the reply.

"What're you gonna do there?"

"Geez, are you an interrogator or something?"

"I was only asking."

"If you must know, I'm going there to work with Potter." The last word was said with a spat. But due to the word itself, none of the other girls in the room noticed.

"You're going to the library with _James Potter?"_ they screamed.

"Is that a _date_?!"

"I thought you said you hated him!"

"IT'S NOT A DATE!" Lily yelled at the top of her lungs. They looked startled at her. "And when did I stop hating him? Huh?" They didn't answer. "That's what I thought. Just so you know it: He makes me sick. So there. It's _not_ a date, I _do_ hate him, and you're _not_ going _anywhere _near the library. Understood?"

"Yes, Lily," the girls said in chorus.

"Wish me luck," Lily said as she went through the door.

"With James?" Laura said and grinned.

"With trying not to strangle him," Lily replied and shut the door. Laura turned towards the others, and said with certainty:

"She's in love with him." The others nodded in agreement.

***

"Halloween!"

"Christmas!"

"HALLOWEEN!"

"CHRISTMAS!"

"THIS IS THE LIBRARY! STOP YELLING!" madame Pince yelled at them. Lily and James turned their voices down to harsh whispers.

"Halloween."

"Christmas."

"Why do you want it to be a Christmas ball?" James asked.

"Why do you want it to be a Halloween ball?" Lily shot back. "Oh, of course," she said and mock-slapped her fore head, "pranks are part of Halloween."

"It's not because of that," James said, blushing.

"What is it then?"

"Well, it's closer..."

"Yeah, we would have to hurry," Lily snorted.

"We would not!" James protested.

"Would too! Potter, it's _three weeks_ till Halloween," Lily pointed out, her hands on her hips.

"It would get a little tight, wouldn't it?" James said sheepishly.

"It would, you idiot."

"But almost everybody goes home for Christmas!" he protested. Lily sighed resigned.

"We'll have it right _before_ the Christmas Holiday, you idiot."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Oh, you're tired of it? I can call you other things," Lily said. "Jerk, lame-o, stupid, dummy, bastard, prick, dickhead, pervert-"

"Pervert!" James protested.

"You only disagree on pervert? Okay. Let me see, what else..."

"No! Stop it! I've got it now. So, we say it's a Christmas ball, then?"

"Yes. Now, I've gotta go, king of bad dandruff." Lily headed towards the door. James touched his head.

"I don't have dandruff!" he protested.

"Sure you don't, dickhead."

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked.

"I said: I have to go. Are you deaf as well as dumb?"

"What're you gonna do?" James asked, ignoring her insults.

"That's none of your business," Lily said. "See you at classes tomorrow, moron."

And she left James standing there with his mouth open. "I'm not a moron!" he protested.

"You are if you don't shut your mouth," Sirius said beside him. "You look rather stupid. Do you want flies living in there?" James shut his mouth with a snap.

***

"Sooo, how did it go?" Laura jumped on Lily the moment she came through the door to the common room.

"I didn't kill him," Lily said and slumped down in a cosy arm chair by the fire. There was a united 'oooooo'.

"Did you kiss?" Nicki, who didn't spend much time with Lily and therefore didn't know that she had hated him for six years, asked. Lily looked at her as if she had sprouted another leg.

"Of course we didn't!"

"Oh yeah?" Syn said disbelieving.

"You don't believe me?" Lily stared at them. They shook their heads.

"James Potter is the most famous –"

"And sexy," Laura put in.

"No, that's Sirius," Syn said.

"- and popular boy at school, Lily," Nicki finished. "Of course you kissed him."

Lily looked at them in open shock. "I'm going for a walk," she said and went out the entrance hole again.

"Will you make up your mind?" the armour shouted angrily at her. Lily ignored it, and instead headed for the Gryffindor common room. (A/N: Of course she knew where it was! She was Head Girl!)

"Password?" the Pink Lady asked.

"Oh, damn, I've forgotten it," Lily muttered, angry at herself. The Pink Lady swung aside so that she could climb through the portrait hole.

"I've forgotten it? What kind of password is that?" Lily asked nobody.

"Actually, James made it up so that Peter would remember it," a voice said in her ear.

"Sirius!" she yelped, jumping out of his reach. "Never do that again!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Forget it," she muttered.

"Why are you here?" Peter asked, coming towards them. "You're not in this House."

"Wow, a hundred points to fog brain," Lily said sarcastically. She didn't like Peter.

"That reminds me," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Why _are_ you here?"

"I'm looking for Molly."

"Oh? I thought you were looking for James."

"Get a grip, Black."

"Back to last names, are we?"

Lily sighed. "Have you seen Molly?"

"No," came Sirius' reply. "But why don't you sit here with us? I'm sure she'll turn up soon." He gave her his most charming smile.

"I think I'll look for her instead," Lily said shortly and turned towards the portrait hole again.

"Lily!" a voice shouted from one of the stairs. Lily turned, and saw Molly coming down the stairs towards her. She smiled.

"Hi, Molly. Would you like to save me from committing suicide?" Molly laughed. "Them again?"

"You said it."

"Come on, then." And she led Lily up the stairs to the sixth year girls' dorm. "Wait," Molly said and stopped, turning towards Lily. "Do you want pumpkin juice?"

"Yeah. Let's go to the kitchens." They went down the stairs again.

"And I thought the Head students had to be nice and not break rules," Molly said. Lily laughed.

"If that was the case, how could _he_," she pointed at James who just had turned up, "become Head Boy?"

"Good point," Molly laughed.

***

"Did you and Molly have fun?" James said as he skipped beside Lily.

"It's not any of your business, Potter," Lily said coldly, ignoring the stares she got from the girls standing in the corridor because she was 'walking with' James Potter.

"I'm just curious," James said a little hurt.

"Leave me alone, Potter."

"Why? Do you hate me?"

"YES."

"Why?"

"You want a _list_? I'll write it later." And she slammed the door to the class room in his face.

He was immediatly the attention of twenty sympathising girls. _I'm starting getting sick of them_, he thought, as he pushed himself through them to the door.

***

"Hogsmeade weekend!" Lily declared as she dumped down on a chair at the breakfast table.

"Cool!" Laura said. "Then I can get a new dress robe, and-"

"Yeah!" Syn joined in. "I've got to have a nice dress, 'cause Chow Chang asked me out-"

"What?!" Laura, Nicki and Lily turned towards Syn (Lily didn't mind talking about boys if they weren't Sirius or James. Unfortunately, they usually were).

"I thought you liked Sirius!" Nicki said.

"Well, yeah," Syn said and blushed, "but that's just a childish crush, really. Chow is so much sweeter..." she sighed and got a dreamy look on her face.

"Well, congratulations, Syn!" Lily said. "Chow is really great, finally he's asked you out!"

"You mean you _knew_?" Syn turned towards Lily.

"Um, not really...I just kinda overheard one time when he and his friends talked about..um...girls, you know, and then he kinda said that he thought you were kinda cute..." Lily fidgeted embarassed in her chair.

"Well, that's okay, Lily. I mean, now that we _are_ going to the ball together and stuff," Syn said and smiled.

"Syn, you have to help me to find a dress which will impress Potter, I really want to dance with him..." Laura started again. Lily groaned. They just _couldn't_ have a conversation without mentioning him, could they? She looked over at the Gryffindor table – yes! Molly! She went over to the Gryffindor table – causing a lot of puzzled stares which she ignored.

"Hi, Molly!" Lily said and smiled. "Can I sit here?"

"Sure, Lily," Molly said and patted a seat beside her. The other girls Molly was sitting with gave Lily a 'don't-I-know-you?' stare. "Girls, this is Lily. She's the one hating James." The girls' expression changed to recognition.

"Nice way of introducing me, Molly," Lily said, playfully punching Molly's shoulder.

"Well, it _is_ rather covering, isn't it?" Molly asked innocently.

"Yeah, right. You could have said 'She's the Head Girl' or 'She's the one who kicked Potter's ass at the flying lessons at the beginning of school' or something."

"But it wouldn't be so precise, would it?" Molly grinned at her.

"I give up."

"Nice of you. So, care to join us at the Hogsmeade trip?"

"That's exactly what I was going to ask you, you know. Those fluff heads," Lily nodded towards Laura and co. at the Ravenclaw table, "will only talk about Potter and Black anyway, so I wondered if I could seek refugee here."

"Sure," Molly said. "That's okay with you, right?" she asked the other girls. They nodded in agreement.

"Tell me," one of them, a girl with light brown hair and blue eyes said and leaned closer to Lily across the table, "do you really hate James as much as they say?"

"What do they say?" Lily asked.

"That if you had to spend a weekend with James you would either strangle him or strangle yourself before the first day was out."

"That's pretty much it, yes," Lily said with a straight face.

The girl shook her head. "And you aren't even in his House," she said. Then she smiled. "I'm Pennie, by the way."

"Lily," Lily said. The others also presented themselves, and they all started talking about things not involving James Potter.

***

"Hello, Petal," James smiled as Lily entered the library. She stopped in her tracks.

"_Petal_?"

"Well, yeah! Since your name's Lily, I thought-"

"Well, sorry, jackass, I don't want any nick names from you."

"You have nick names for _me_," James protested.

"They're insults. Not nick names."

"Right. Thanks for coming, anyway."

"What?"

"I said thanks for coming. I mean, last time I talked to you were when you left me with twenty screaming Hufflepuffs."

"Poor you," Lily's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Yeah, poor me! _I_ didn't ask for them!"

"Ooo, I'm _so_ sorry, James thinks-he's-cool-but-he's-just-an-idiot Potter!"

"Why do you keep saying that? I'm not an idiot!"

"But you think you're cool, right?"

"No, I do-"

"That's one of the things I hate about you, Potter. You've almost got as big an ego as Snape. Now let's get down to business before I blow up your stupid head."

James gaped at her as she sat down on the opposite side of the table – as far away from him as she could get. She opened a note book and a quill.

"So," she said. "What do we need?" She looked at him.

__

Man, Harry thought. _Those eyes are so-_

"Hello, Potter? Anybody in there?" James became aware of Lily's hand waving in front of his face.

"Sure I am. Um, let's see... Every Flavoured Beans, of course." Lily scribbled it down. "Chocolate Frogs, Liqourice Bats, Caramel Phoenixes..."

"Hold on," Lily said, and scribbled the names down on the paper. "Ok. Anything else? And don't even _think_ about Fireworks and Dungbombs. It's a _ball._"

"I weren't going to suggest that!" James protested – of course he lied.

"As if." Lily looked unconvinced. "We need Butterbeer, of course," she said. "And pumpkin juice...right?"

"Hm-hmmmm," James said. "What about Rock Candies?"

Lily narrowed her eyes. "That's those candies which break your teeth, isn't it?" she said.

"No..." James said dubiously. Those eyes made him a terrible liar.

"No Rock Candies," Lily said flatly.

James sighed. Lily looked down at her note book, and snapped it shut.

"Well, that's pretty much it, isn't it?" she said.

"I guess so," James said. Lily went out into the corridor. James suddenly got a strange impulse, and ran after her.

"Evans!" he shouted for her to stop. She turned around.

"What is it now, Potter?" she asked irritated.

"Um...want to go to the ball with me?" he burst out. She just gaped at him for what seemed like hours.

"Can't dance," she said shortly and went down the empty corridor again, leaving James with a funny feeling in his stomach.

***

Lily went up the stairs to her dorm in a dreamy state. She closed the door and flung herself on her bed.

__

Oh my god, Lily thought as she looked up at the ceiling. _James Potter just asked me out. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I SAY NO?! Well, he IS sort of cute with that hair and- NO! DON'T THINK LIKE THAT! YOU HATE JAMES POTTER! _Lily closed her eyes and took a deep, deep breath. She opened her eyes again, and opened her mouth to scream.

"Shhh!" Remus hissed, and looked around. Lily noticed that it had gone dark. _I must have fallen asleep,_ she thought.

"How did _you_ get in _here_?" she whispered.

"I borrowed James' Invisibility Cloak."

"James has an _Invisibility Cloak_?" Remus raised an eyebrow at her chose of name.

"Sure, but that's not the subject."

"Why are you here, anyway?" Lily asked as she sat up.

"Well, James told me that you said you couldn't dance..." Remus started.

"He told you I couldn't dance?!"

"He said that _you_ had said that you couldn't dance..."

"What has that to do with you?"

"...and I wondered if you wanted me to teach you," Remus finished. Lily gaped at him.

"You want to teach _me_ how to dance? Why?"

"Well, when I see how much you and James are in love-" Remus said, and ducked under Lily's swinging arm.

"Why do you want to teach me?" she repeated.

"You're so dead sexy," Remus grinned.

"_Remus._"

"All right, I give up. Damn, how do you see through me like that?"

"Call it a sixth sense."

"As if."

"Okay. You're a terrible liar when you're not threatened with detention."

"That one I can buy."

"But why do you want to teach me to dance?" Lily pressed further.

"Can't you give it a rest? Okay, okay, me and Padfoot have a bet."

"Padfoot?"

"Sirius."

"Oh. What kinda bet?"

"I can't tell you. But it involves you dancing."

"Ah. And if you loose?"

"I have to sing 'I'm a widdle liddle Canary' in a yellow canary suit at the ball," Remus said calmly.

"You're a terrible singer, aren't you?"

"Yes. A very bad one."

"Oookay. What does Sirius have to do?"

"He has to ask Hidney from Hufflepuff to the ball, and go in visible boxers and blue hair."

Lily weighed Remus singing 'I'm a widdle liddle Canary' on the stage versus Sirius in boxers and having blue hair going with Hidney, who was head over heels for him and probably wouldn't even get embarrassed of going with Sirius – probably _because_ she would be going with Sirius.

"You've got a student," she said. Remus grinned, and they shook hands.

A/N: That's it for now. You will have to wait a little for the next part, though... Thanks for all the reviews, and there's nothing against writing more of them!


	3. Dancing Lessons

Disclaimer: I don't even bother

Disclaimer: I don't even bother.

A/N: I'm so sorry about that thing with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in the A/N right before last chapter, I realised my mistake just after I had posted it. This chapter might get very fluffy, so bear with me. And I just couldn't get them to pull any pranks, since it would be James' turn and he's starting to realise something.

****

You make me sick

Chapter three: Dancing Lessons

"Where are you going?" Laura asked as Lily headed towards the hole.

"To the library. Why?"

"You've been there a lot lately, haven't you?" Laura asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Excuse ME, it's only a month till Christmas tests!" Lily said and turned towards Laura.

"You're seeing someone, aren't you?" Laura asked. Syn and Nicki turned their attention away from their chess game.

"No!" Lily said, cursing herself for blushing.

"You are!" Nicki said.

"No! Who do you think you are, anyway? My mother?"

"We're only curious," Laura said, turning towards her book.

"Yeah, _too_ curious! I can't believe you guys actually made it to Ravenclaw! You should be in Hufflepuff, the way you act!"

They gaped at her.

"I'm going to the library. To _study._" And Lily slammed the hole shut, leaving a stunned common room. Laura turned towards Nicki and Syn.

"We must have hit a soft spot there, girls," she said. Nicki nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Syn said. "I mean, _no one_ can be so interested in studyi- Oh! Chow!"

"Want to play some chess?" Laura asked.

"Anything to not seeing those two lovebirds," Nicki said. They tried to ignore the kissing noises Syn and Chow were making.

***

"Hi, Remus," Lily said as she came into the unused class room. Remus had moved all the desks to one side, so they got dancing space.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"Laura and the gang," Lily said, sitting down on the floor. "They wanted to know if I was seeing someone."

"You are, aren't you?" Remus smiled.

"Well, yeah, but if I said yes, they would think it was James. So I said that I was going to the library to study for exams." Lily grimaced. "Actually, I need to do that."

"But you get top grades!" Remus protested.

"That's only because I'm good at Charms," Lily said.

"Isn't that under-estimating a bit?"

Lily ignored him. "I suck at Transfiguration."

"Oh," Remus said. "Right. I think we'll begin with an easy dance, so the first thing you're going to learn is the waltz. Take my hand."

Remus guided Lily to the right position (she jerked a little when he placed his hand firmly on her hip) and he started explaining the steps.

"In the waltz we sort of go around in a circle. I step forwards, you step backwards. Start with your left foot." Lily stepped one step back, and he followed her.

"Now you take one step sideways with your right foot, and place your left foot lightly beside it. Good. Now do the same procedure, only starting with the right foot. Good!"

They did this, circling around the class room a few times before Remus stopped again.

"Very good! Now comes the tricky part. After we've taken two steps back, we will turn. Just look at my feet once." Remus demonstrated. "Get it? Left back, half turn right, together. Right forward, half turn left, together. Then from the beginning again. Try alone." Lily nodded, and did the steps.

"Yes! Good, Lily! Now let's try together."

They did so for about ten minutes, till Lily got the hang of it.

"Now we'll try with music," Remus said and turned on a CD-player (wizard type). "Listen to the music beat while you dance. It's like: heavy, light, light. Heavy, light, light. Just like the steps in the dance."

"OK," Lily said.

"Try alone one time." Lily did, feeling the music guide her feet. "Very good! Let's try together. You have to listen to the music to know when to start." Remus started the song again. "Ready? Wait! One more...now!"

They danced for almost an hour, Remus saying under his breath to help Lily with the steps: "Heavy, light, light, heavy, light, light. Don't look down! Look at me! Left back, side right, together. Right back, side left, together. Left back, right turn- don't take so long steps! It's on the _left_ turn you're supposed to take a long step!"

When they stopped, Lily knew she could do it as if she had learned it years ago. Remus was a very good dancer – he had a strong lead.

"That's enough for today," Remus said and turned off the CD-player.

"What do you think? Am I...er... good?" Lily asked.

"You're a natural talent, Lily," Remus smiled. Lily smiled back.

"When's the next time?" she asked.

"I dunno," Remus said. "Tomorrow?"

"No. Hogsmeade, remember?"

"Oh, right. What about Monday?"

"Okay. See you, Remus."

"You too, Lily."

They went to their different Houses, Lily skipping as she walked down the corridor.

***

"So, where are we going first?" Lily asked as she walked down the street in Hogsmeade with her friends from Gryffindor.

"I dunno," Molly shrugged.

"Not Honeydukes," Pennie said. "Everybody goes to Honeydukes first, so we'll be stuck there for an hour before we can get something."

"Hmmm. Should we just go to the dress robe store first, then?" Marybelle suggested. The others agreed, and they went to _The Dressy Wizard: Dress robes for witches and wizards_.

"Hello, my dears," the store owner greeted them. She wore a friendly smile and flowing robes in scarlet and silver. "Looking for dresses for the Ball, I presume?" The girls nodded. "Do you want to look for yourselves, or do you want my guidance?"

"Um...we'll look for ourselves first," Molly said. The witch smiled and went behind her counter again to do whatever she was doing.

The girls walked around in the women section, looking at all the dresses.

"Hey! Lily!" Molly called. "Come and look at this!" Lily went over. Molly held up a dress which was loose in the top and tight in the bottom, with pink and orange stripes. Lily almost gagged.

"You're not thinking of going in _that_, are you?" she asked. Molly laughed.

"Of course not. I only wanted to see your response. No, I was thinking about _this_ one." She held up a white, glittering robe.

"I'm sure that one will suit you," Lily said. "Try it!" Molly nodded and went to the changing rooms. Lily looked around, and her eyes fell on a green dress. _Perfect,_ she thought, and went to the changing rooms.

"Have you found one?" Lily asked Pennie. Pennie shook her head.

"No," she said. "I'm just waiting for Marybelle and Molly to change. Go and change, you too. I'll wait."

"Okay." Lily went inside one of the changing rooms.

After a minute or two, the girls came out in their dresses.

"What do you think?" Molly asked the same time as all the others said:

"It's perfect for you!"

"It really suits your hair," Lily said. Molly also had red hair, only hers was auburn.

"You really think so?" Molly asked, looking over her dress. It was something between loose fitting and tight fitting and reached down to her ankles, and had a cleavage forming a V in the back and front.

"YES," they said.

"What about me?" Marybelle asked, turning around so that they could see her dress. It was midnight blue and strapless.

"Great, Mary'."

"Am I the only one without a judgement now?" Lily joked. They looked at her.

"Oh, it's sooo great!"

"Perfect!"

"It's the same colour as your eyes!"

"So it's okay?" Lily laughed.

"It's perfect."

"Yeah."

"Absolutely."

"Oh, and just a tip: you should make sure you can dance in your dresses," Lily said. "I think Dumbledore wants a dancing contest."

"That's no problem in _your_ dress, now is it, Lily?" Molly smiled. Lily looked down at the flowing parting in the front of the dress – it reached up her lower thigh.

"Something wrong with a high split?" she asked innocently.

"No, of course not. Only – make sure you don't have long underwear on."

"Okay, mum."

They all laughed and went looking for dresses for Kathy and Pennie.

***

"I am sooooo burned out," Lily groaned.

"I'm hungry," Pennie said.

"Let's go to _The Three Broomsticks_, 'kay?"

"Sure."

"Fine."

"Sounds great."

The five girls staggered over to the inn.

"Oh, no," Molly said, looking at all the people.

"There's a free table!" Marybelle pointed and they practically ran over.

"Yes," Pennie said and dumped down on one of the chairs. She giggled. "Looks like we took it right up under his nose." She pointed at a very annoyed looking Snape. The others giggled too.

"1-0 to us versus ugly Slytherins," Lily smiled.

"So Ravenclaws hate Slytherins, too?" Kathy asked.

"Oh, come on. _Everybody_ hate Slytherins," Lily said. "Gryffindors only hate them more than the rest of the world do."

"I'll go get some butterbeers, 'kay?" Molly said and went to the counter.

"Let's see," Lily said and looked into her shopping bag. "We've got dresses, we've been to Honeydukes, we've been to Zonko's-"

"_You've_ been to Zonko's," Pennie interrupted.

"okay, _I've_ been to Zonko's, Marybelle sent a birthday owl to her brother," Lily continued. "Anything else we need to do?"

The others looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Oh, good. I don't think my feet can take anymore of this anyway."

Then Molly came with the butterbeers, and they started talking about the ball.

"So, you said that there's going to be a dancing contest?" Kathy asked Lily.

"I'm not sure, but I think so. Dumbledore hinted."

"Hinted?"

"He said that we would need our dancing skills."

"What sort of dancing will it be?" Pennie asked.

"I think it's going to be traditional at first and then free."

"Cool. Can any of you dance traditional?" Molly asked the others.

"What _is_ traditional?" Marybelle asked.

"It's like, waltz and tango and swing and so on," Molly said.

"Oh. I know that – my mother dragged all my family to a dancing camp last summer," Marybelle grimaced.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Pennie looked at her.

"I tried to forget it."

"Ah. Well, since my mother too is hooked on dancing, I can some too," Pennie said.

"I'm learning it," Lily said, and immediatly regretted it as the others looked at her.

"You're learning it? Now? Who teach you?"

"Remus is teaching me."

"Remus? _The_ Remus? Remus Lupin, the Marauder?" Pennie asked in disbelief.

"Um...yeah."

"Why does he want to teach someone to dance?" Molly wondered.

"I'm helping him win a bet he's got with Sirius. It's something about me doing something or another. Sirius doesn't think I'll do it, so..."

"What does Sirius have to do if he loses?" Kathy asked, her eyes glinting with interest.

"Oh, nothing, really. Just go with Hidney from Hufflepuff in boxers and blue hair at the Ball. Nothing special."

They gaped at her.

"Is something wrong with that?" Lily asked.

"There has to be some _really_ unbelievable thing you're gonna do if Sirius agrees on going with Hidney, Lily," Molly said.

"Don't forget the blue hair and boxers," Kathy reminded her.

"Maybe they're betting on if Lily and James are going to the ball together," Pennie snickered. Lily shot a death glare at her, but her smile just broadened.

"Yeah, something like that..." Marybelle agreed.

"I think I want to puke," Lily said.

"Well, do it on James, then!" Marybelle pointed towards a table at the opposite end of the room, where James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat talking. "It's his fault."

"Or we could go home," Molly suggested. "It's getting late anyway."

"Yeah," Pennie agreed. "We've been here for, like, six hours or something."

The others nodded, and they went out the door.

***

"Ready for lesson two?" Remus smiled at her.

"Sure," Lily replied.

"I thought you should learn the swing," Remus said. "It's a little complicated, so you'll learn the basis steps today. If you get the hang of it, we'll take it with music. Now, look at the steps I'm taking. Remember that you're going to do it the other way – it's like a mirror."

Lily nodded. "I'm ready."

"Good. Now: You've got to think in six beat. First it's two steps a little from each other: right step, left step. Then closer: right together, left together. Got it?" Lily did the steps. "Yes. Now, you take your right foot aslant behind the left foot, and make a step with the left foot in the same place." Remus demonstrated, and Lily followed. "Okay, let's do it together. Right step left step, together together, back forward. Right step, left step, together together, back forward. One two three four five six, one two three four five six. Good, Lily! Can you do it now without me?" Lily nodded and demonstrated. "Good. Now comes the actual 'swing thing'. Um, I'm not so good at this since it's only the girl doing it, but..." Remus stood still a little, thinking. He went through a series of steps. "Right. I think I know it now. Look at me. Turn towards the left – that means going forward with your right foot – and take your left foot beside your right. Then you take the four last steps." They did it together a few times (besides each other, not dancing). 

"Good, Lily! Now, do all the steps. You do two rounds with original steps, then starts with the swinging." Lily did it a few times. Remus grinned broadly. "Great! Thank god you're a talent, or else I would have lost my patience last year!" Lily smiled. 

"Are we going to do it together now?" she asked.

"Yes. We'll not do it to music yet."

"OK. Um, same hand position as in the waltz?"

"Yup."

They started dancing. The first time Lily was going to take the swing, she almost twisted Remus' wrist.

"Stop, Lily! Ouch! You can't hold on to my hand like that when you swing! It has to be looser!"

"Sorry," Lily said.

"It's okay. Oh, and don't start swinging before I make the sign, kay?"

"Okay. Um, what's the sign?"

"You'll see," Remus grinned. Lily rolled her eyes. When it was time for the swing, Remus shove her with the hand he had on her hip, into the swing. She almost stumbled – she hadn't been ready for it.

"Oops, sorry," Remus grinned. She stuck her tongue out at him. "That's a little childish, isn't it?" he asked.

"So? Girls have a right to be childish some times, too."

"They have?" He ducked under her arm which swung dangerously close to his head. "Okay, okay, they have."

"Hah!" she said triumphantly.

"Shall we continue?" he asked.

"We shall," Lily said and grinned at him. They danced a while, Remus all the time muttering the beat and things like "Don't look down at your feet: I'm up here." and "Okay, just because you don't look down, doesn't mean you get to step on my feet." and of course "You begin with the _right_ foot, not the left!"

After fifteen minutes, they were both a little sick of dancing in the same tempo and without music – and Remus claimed that he had to rest his smashed feet.

"I'm not _that_ heavy," Lily said as she looked at Remus sitting on a desk and groaning in self pity.

"Of course not. This is just an act." Remus suddenly jumped up again. Do you want to try with music?"

"Er..."

"Okay. I'll say when to start."

"I'm not deaf either, Remus."

"Of course not."

An hour later Lily came out with a smile on her face. With the music on, they had to dance faster, and she really liked it – she had to admit that swing was exhilarating. After a little while Remus started with another complicated move – for the boys – where he changed the hand he was swinging Lily with.

"Same time next week?" she called back at him.

"Sure, but don't you want to anytime sooner?" he said.

"We _have_ homework to do too," she pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to explain to Laura and the others why I spend so much time at 'the library'."

"But why don't you just tell them?" Remus asked confused.

"You haven't listened to them," Lily said. "They almost sound like Hidney and her gang." Remus shuddered in sympathy. "See you later, Remus."

"Okay."

***

"James, I've got a problem," Remus whispered to James during breakfast. "You know I have to leave soon to do you-know-what, right?" James nodded from behind his toast. "But I've got a problem. See...I promised to help someone with some work, and I forgot that it would be during _the_ time! Can you do it for me?"

James swallowed his toast. "Can't Sirius or Peter?"

"I doubt Peter would be any help, and Sirius...well, I want to have one of you with me and you're the best qualified to help..." Remus looked pleadingly at James.

"Oh, all right. _If_ you do my Divination homework." Remus groaned (he had used up all his ideas of how to die on their last homework) but nodded. "It's a deal."

"When am I going to meet this...someone?"

***

"Hold it, Lily."

Lily turned around and saw Laura, Syn and Nicki with identical expressions and their hands on their hips.

"What?"

"Where are you going?" Syn asked.

"I'm visiting Molly."

"We don't believe you."

"Why not?" Lily sighed. Not again...

"Well, this time we have proof. Every Friday night in over a month now you go out 'to the library' or 'visiting Molly'. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but we checked. You weren't in the library last Friday. And Molly had no clue at all that you had visited her the Friday before last. Explain, please," Laura said.

__

Damn, Lily thought. _Why didn't you think a little faster, Molly?_ She sighed. _Sometimes you just have to tell the truth. _"Okay. I confess. I've been taking dancing lessons." They gaped at her. _They didn't expect _that_ one._

"You're taking _dancing lessons_?" Syn said disbelieving.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Laura asked a little hurt.

"Because I knew you either would react thinking that I was interesting in a boy or just like Syn did just now."

Nicki kicked Syn in the shins.

"Well, _are_ you interested in a boy?"

"Of course not."

"Okay then. Let's go, girls." And Laura guided Syn and Nicki up the stairs to their dorm again.

__

That went smoothly, Lily thought, and walked down towards the classroom where she would meet with Remus. She went in. _Funny. He's never been late._ She sat down on one of the desks and waited for him. After a few minutes, a boy came in. But it was _not_ Remus Lupin.

"_You_?!" Lily and James said together.

"What're you doing here?" Lily was the first to speak again.

"That was my line."

"James Dumbass Potter, what are you doing here?" Lily repeated.

James ignored her. "_You're_ the one Remus is helping with work?" he asked in disbelief.

"You've got a problem with that?"

"Um, no..." James backed away.

"Where is Remus anyway?" Lily asked.

"He...got sick. He's in the hospital wing. We're not allowed to see him."

"Why not?"

"Um, they think he's infectous."

"Oh. So you're here instead of him?"

"Yeah. I can go, if you want me to." James turned towards the door and freedom from Lily's temper which he believed would explode anytime in the near future.

Lily looked at him. "No, it's okay. Have you brought the CD-player?"

"The _what_?"

"The CD-player. You know, the thing that plays music?"

"Yeah, I know that. I'm not _stupid._"

"And here I've thought so all along," Lily muttered just loud enough for him to hear. James ignored the comment.

"What I _mean_," he said, "is: why do we need a CD-player?"

"Didn't Remus tell you?"

"Obviously not."

"He's teaching me to dance." James gaped at her. "What's so wrong with that?" she asked angry. "You're the fourth person to gape at me like I'm confessing my engagement to Snape or something."

"You're engaged to Snape?" James asked dumbly.

"NO!" Lily screamed.

"Uh..." _There blew the temper_.

"And DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL TO TAKE DANCING LESSONS!"

"Uh...are you finished?" James tried. Lily took a deep, trembling breath.

"Yes," she said.

"Okay. Um, do you want to have a lesson?"

"With you?"

"Yeah." James closed his eyes and waited for the blow. And waited. It never came. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Lily looked at him in a way he couldn't read.

"What?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. How are we going to get a CD-player?"

James realised he was gaping again and clamped his mouth shut. Then he transformed one of the desks to a CD-player, earning himself an envious look from Lily.

"What has Remus teached you?" James turned towards her and missed the glance.

"Um, let me see," Lily held up a hand and started to tick off fingers. "First it was the waltz, then the swing, then we took tango, then cha cha cha, and the last time I learned the mambo." James looked at her in disbelief.

"How many times have you danced?" he asked.

Lily shrugged. "One lesson every week the past six weeks...eight lessons in all, since it was two the first week and the last."

"And you've learned five dances?"

"Yeah. I had two lessons on the mambo and on the cha cha cha, though. And I'm not sure with the mambo."

"Man. Either you're a natural talent, you lied to me the other day or Remus Lupin has learned a new spell where you stop time."

"He did say that I'm talented."

"Let's see, then. I don't think it's much use in you learning more dances – not that there's so many left I can – so we'll just go through all the dances, okay?"

"Sure. What do we start with?"

"Tango, if that's okay."

"Okay."

James placed the CD into the player (A/N: I don't know where he got it, so don't ask me) and went over to Lily again.

"Ready?" he asked and took the hand positions.

"Yeah," Lily said. She got goose bumps on her waist where James had placed his hand. He flicked his wand at the CD-player, turning it on. They started to dance, James murmuring when to do the head turns. When the song stopped, they did too, still standing in the dance position.

"That's good, Evans," James said. 

"You can call me Lily, Potter."

"Then you can call me James."

"...okay, James."

"What I was going to say, Lily, is that you're good at tango. But there is some things wrong here. First, you've got the head turns a little out of the beat. So I'm going to tap you when you're supposed to turn your head – although it's really easy. It's every short step."

"Okay."

"The other thing is that we're too far from each other," James said. Lily's eyes widened. It wasn't as if they had a mile between each other – only three inches or something. "The tango is a 'close' dance," James continued. Lily suddenly felt him tighten his grip around her waist, pulling her _really_ close to him.

"I can't breathe, Potter," she said through clenched teeth. James grinned. _I'm playing with the devil_, he thought.

"Sorry about that, Lily," he said and loosened his grip. Lily pulled backwards. "Ah ah ah," he chided. "You're not supposed to do that."

"So I'm supposed to be _glued_ to you?"

"Yes."

"No wonder Remus didn't mention it," she said. "He knew he would be in mortal danger."  
"Ah, but will I?" He grinned at her. "Come on, let's dance."

This time, Lily didn't miss a beat when they did the head turns. James had as good a lead as Remus, and steered her around the classroom.

"Let's try with some other moves too," James said.

"Other moves?"

"Yeah. You know, the leaning backwards and such."

"Oh, no. You're _not_ making me lean backwards with only your arm for suppo-" But James had already done it.

"Lift your foot," he said. "Don't be so stiff."

"You _could_ give me a warning, you know," Lily said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry. Want to try again?" James flashed his perfect teeth at her.

"All right," she said hesitantly. James leaned her backwards again. "Good, Lily!" James sounded pleased.

"Can we take another dance now?" she asked. "I think I know the tango."

"Fine by me," James said. "The swing?" She nodded and he changed the song.

They started to dance. Lily whirled around, letting James guide her. In the middle of the song, he asked: "You want to learn a new move?"

"Sure," Lily said a little breathless.

"Take my other hand too," he said. She took his other hand. "Now take the first series of steps once. Then," he spoke as they did it, "you swing around just like usual, but _don't lose the grip with your left hand_." She did, and suddenly James was behind her holding her arms, which was in the position of a strait jacket. "Now take six steps backwards," he smiled at her look of surprise. They went six steps around forming a circle, before James sent her out in the usual position. They danced on.

"So, what do you think of that move?" James asked when they had finished, turning off the CD-player.

"It was," Lily swallowed, "okay."

"Okay?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Okay," she said stubbornly. He smiled again – _He's got such white teeth,_ Lily thought – and jumped up on one of the desks.

"Isn't it now you're supposed to bang me in the head because I were two inches away from your face?" he asked, his eyes glinting with...something.

"I'm having good will right now," Lily replied, looking out the window. "Oh, look! It's snowing!" she ran over to the window and looked outside at the snow falling peacefully down to the ground. James followed after her.

"Lovely, isn't it?" he murmured in her ear. She jerked around and stared intently up at him. He looked back. Lily turned back to the window, her face flushing – although that could have been from the dancing.

__

Oh, no, what am I doing? she asked herself. _He's James Potter, for Christ's sake!_

Yeah, but his eyes are so soft...

Stop it!

"You want to take the waltz before we go?" James asked. "Next time we can work on the cha cha cha and the mambo."

"...okay," Lily said reluctantly.

James turned on the music. They started to dance.

It was totally unlike dancing with Remus. Remus was just a friend, really – they were just friends helping each other out. But James was different...he was _James Potter_, the guy she had hated for six years. But now, he acted so different from how she had thought he would act, and she felt her hatred slipping... Another thing was that Remus never held her that close during the tango.

Lily found herself lost in James' eyes as they danced. His eyes were so soft and _brown_ behind the spectacles... James smiled at her. His teeth were white and even, so contrary to his messy hair... To her surprise as much as his, Lily smiled back.

Suddenly she tripped over a chair leg. She fell down on the floor, dragging James with her. He landed on her, their heads only half an inch apart.

"Uh..." Lily started, but was interrupted by a quick kiss. Lily stared up at him in surprise. He looked back with questions in his eyes. She answered him with a soft, long kiss.

She felt like flying. No: it was _better_ than flying. There was a singing noise in her ears, and behind her closed eyes danced sparkles and stars. She didn't want to pull back, but she had to breathe.

After what seemed like hours, but probably was only a minute, they pulled back, both of them gasping. James tried to roll off her, but she held on to his shirt.

"See you next week," she whispered to him and kissed his nose. Then she went out of the classroom, humming softly. James looked after her in a mix of shock, confusion and something he didn't want to confess right yet, before he stood up and went over to the window.

The snow was still falling.

A/N: Hope you didn't think the dancing lessons with Remus were too boring.


	4. The Ball and some other stuff

Disclaimer: Gee, I know you own this, Joanne

Disclaimer: Gee, I know you own this, Joanne. Sue me. I'm broke anyway, so why don't you?

The mambo lesson is inspired by 'Dirty Dancing'.

A/N: Yes, I guessed that they didn't have CD-players back then (reference to Anne) but I just thought it would be easier with a CD-player. Let's just say that the magic world is a little ahead of the muggle world, shall we?

To those who has commented that I wrote '_Man_, Harry thought, ...' I'm sorry. It was supposed to be James. Just imagine that it was James, okay?

If you are a Hufflepuff patriot, I recommend that you don't read this chapter. I have nothing against the Hufflepuffs, they're only the fittest for a role I need in here. I don't think it likely that the Slytherins would be in love with James Potter.

One more thing: Sorry if it took a bit long to post this chapter, but I just had set my mind on having the ball in it, so... well, it's much longer than the other chapters.

****

You make me sick

Chapter four: the Ball and some other stuff

Lily skipped on her way to the Ravenclaw tower, humming happily to herself. She was in such a good mood that she even didn't bother to yell at Peeves for splashing a bucket of blubberworms _almost_ on top of her head.

She was lost in thoughts and therefore, she didn't see the boy heading in the opposite direction before they crashed.

"Evans!" Snape hissed angry, glaring at her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Snape," she said cheerfully. "Wonderful day, isn't it?" She got up and started to skip down the corridor again. "And Snape?"

"Yes," he said angry.

"You missed a spot on top of your head, I think." Then she was gone. Snape gaped after her, then patted his head in search of the spot. Finding it, he opened a box of grease and smeared it out over his head. He went down the corridor again, not noticing that his hair had turned a ghastly green shade.

***

"My, aren't you in a good mood," Laura said as Lily entered their dorm.

"Hmm?" Lily asked absently.

"You're almost like Syn when she has been with Chow 'studying'," Nicki said.

"Oh?" Lily asked again, mildly curious.

"Yeah," Laura said.

"Well, sorry, I haven't been studying with Chow," Lily said and opened her transfiguration book.

"Lily..." Laura started.

"Yes?"

"You're holding your book upside down."

"Oh. Thanks for pointing it out," Lily said and turned her book the right way.

"What have you been doing?" Nicki asked.

"Oh, nothing besides the usual," Lily said. Laura and Nicki raised an eyebrow. "Besides pulling a prank on Snape, of course," Lily finished.

"Ah. And that leaves you in a dreamy-happy state where you can read your worst subject smiling?" Laura said.

"If the prank is good, which it is," Lily said, smiling up at them.

"What did you do?" Nicki asked curiously.

"Let's just say that Snape now stands before a difficult choice in his life," Lily smiled. "He has three different choices: One: He can go around with greasy, puke-green hair, two: he can stop having grease in his hair, or three: he can shave his head."

Laura and Nicki stared at her, smiles erupting in their faces. "What did you do?" Nicki asked.

"I cast a charm on his grease box. It's a chain charm: when it gets to one of his grease boxes, it goes to all his other grease boxes."

"Oh...my," Laura said. She was starting to giggle. "Just think about his face tomorrow..." They started to laugh.

"That's just it," Lily laughed. "He can't colour his hair afterwards, and it doesn't wear off until his hair grow out or he stop wearing grease!"

"And we know _that_ will never happen," Nicki grinned. "You're a very nasty girl, Lily."

"I know. That's why they made me Head Girl." Lily grinned back.

***

The next day it was a quidditch match: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.

"You've got to come, Lily!" Laura said, tugging on Lily's robe like a five-year-old.

"Oh, come on, Laura," Lily said, snapping her book shut. "It's not like you're gonna die or something if I don't come along."

"Yeah, but we really _need_ you there, Lily," Nicki cut in.

"Oh, please."

"Come on! It would be a good thing if the Head Girl came to _one match_," Laura said.

"Honestly," Lily looked at them. "You won't need me. Even the girls from _Hufflepuff_ will support Potter. I'll only be a dead weight. It's not even Ravenclaw playing."

"Pleeeeeeaase?" Nicki made puppy eyes.

"Why?"

"Because...because," Nicki couldn't come up with something.

"Because it's a social gathering," Laura said.

"Yeah!" Nicki put in.

"Can't you get Syn with you?" Lily asked.

"You know we can't separate her and Chow," Laura said.

"I had forgotten about that," Lily said and shot a glance to one of the corners, where Syn and Chow were kissing.

"Can't you tell them to do it somewhere else?" Nicki asked annoyed. "I mean, you _are_ Head Girl."

"I thought you liked kissing!" Lily said in surprise.

"Not when it's not her doing it," Laura grinned. Nicki ignored her.

"Please come with us, Lily," she said. "Please? With a strawberry on top?"

"Oh, all right. I give up," Lily said resigned.

"Oh, goodie!" Nicki jumped up and down, clapping her hands. She looked very childish. "Have you ever seen James Potter fly? He's just soooo amazing!"

Lily groaned. This was going to be a looooooong match...

***

__

"Looks like most of the school have come here today on this beautiful Saturday morning, even some of the teachers!_"_

"JORDAN!" shouted professor McGonnagal.

__

"Honestly, professor, it's true! I'm surprised!"

"William Jordan, I'm NOT going to take any of your foolish jokes today!"

"Gee, SORRY, professor, I'm only doing what I'm told to."

Lily sighed as she, Laura and Nicki pushed through the crowd of students to some seats. She had heard from her friends that Will Jordan from Gryffindor, the commentator, got into arguments with the supervising teacher every match. Especially when it was Gryffindor playing... the teachers had seriously thought about not allowing him to commentate the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, but since he was the perfect man for the job, they let him.

__

"And here come the teams! Hufflepuff: Jones, Blueberry, Rince, Skysblue, Mohaw, Heleva, aaaaand...DIGGORY!" The Hufflepuffs cheered. Some of the Ravenclaws cheered politely. _"Gryffindor: Spinnet, Bell, Kelly,_ _Black,_ _Armstrong, Weasley, aaaaaand...POTTER!"_ The Gryffindors, most of the Ravenclaws (because most of them were girls) and almost every female Hufflepuff cheered.

"Come on, Lily!" Nicki said between cheering and squealing. "You've got to show _some_ support here!"

"Hooray," Lily said sarcastically. It wasn't like she liked everything about Potter just because they had- _Don't think about it now,_ she thought firmly to herself. _You're just going to blush. Besides, you don't LIKE him._

Oh, no. Here I go again talking to myself.

Besides, Nicki and Laura would get suspicious if she suddenly started having nothing against Potter.

The game started, with a loud cheer from the onlookers.

__

"And the heat is up! Blueberry's got the quaffle! Pass it to Jones, who pass it ba- No! Jones avoids a bludger hit by Black, and Bell takes the quaffle! Pass it to Kelly, who pass it to Spinnet, GO ANN! NO! Spinnet gets hit by a bludger, but Kelly takes the quaffle! Goes for the goal posts – KELLY SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a loud cheer from the crowd.

__

"Hufflepuff takes the quaffle! Jones to Rince, Rince to Jones – Ouch! That must have hurt!" Jones had got a bludger straight in the stomach. _"Bell takes the quaffle, Bell to Spin- no, Blueberry's got the quaffle, heads for the posts, SPECTACULAR saving by the Gryffindor keeper! Way to go, Arthur! I'm working on it, professor, don't yell...Bell's got the quaffle again, Bell to Kelly, Kelly to Spinnet – great move they've got! – Spinnet to Kelly again, Kelly to Bell...BELL SCORES! And it's TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR, FOLKS! Oh, no, penalty to Hufflepuff because of a nasty bludger from Black, OH NO! HUFFLEPUFF SCORES!"_

"Jordan..." came McGonnagal's threatening voice.

__

"Okay, professor, um... a great shot from Rince. Kelly takes the quaffle, dodges a bludger, pass it to Bell, Bell to Spinnet, Spinnet to Bell, Bell to Kelly – KELLY SCORES! And LOOK AT POTTER! HE HAS SEEN SOMETHING!" 

Lily turned her attention to the diving red player. He went too fast to see his face, but Lily could see his hand stretching out as he went to the ground around the Hufflepuff goal posts. Suddenly he turned up again, something clutched in his fist.

__

"And Potter's got the Snitch! Gryffindor-Hufflepuff 180-10! Good job, guys!..and girls!"

The spectators cheered as the two teams went to the ground, in the Gryffindor Team's case in a big heap of hugging bodies.

***

"So, what do you think?" Laura asked Lily as they went up to the castle again. "It wasn't as bad as you thought, was it?"

Lily shrugged. "Not really. It's not like I hate quidditch, it's just that I don't like some reactions."

"Like what?" Nicki asked curiously.

"Like all the girls screaming every time Potter or Black was mentioned?" Lily said.

"So?" Nicki said a little angry. "They _are_ the most popular boys at school, after all. And you looked at Potter all the time!"

"That was only because I tried to will him to fall off his broom," Lily said calmly. Laura raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as they went up to the common room.

"Want to go to the library with me?" Lily asked.

"Why?" Nicki asked.

"I've got to study for the tests next week."

"I think I'll stay here," Laura said. "I don't quite feel like studying right now."

"I'll stay here too," Nicki said. "Want to play Exploding Snap?"

"Sure," Laura said. Lily shrugged and went up to their dorm to get her books.

***

"I'm going to the library," James said.

"What're you going to do there?" Sirius asked.

"Study for the tests next week?"

Remus shook his head in mock sorrow. "The Head Boy title has gone to his head, Padfoot. He's actually starting to study!" They grinned up at James.

"Well, I'm going. Try not to pull any pranks without me." Then he went out the portrait hole.

"Maybe Peter would want to go," Remus said and looked around. "Where is he?"

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Don't care that much, either." Remus shrugged too, and they went back to their chess game.

***

Lily frustrated slammed her book shut. _It won't work. I'm never going to get it right_, she thought. She rubbed her brow, frowning.

"Hello, petal," a voice said in her ear. She turned around and saw James smiling at her. She looked quickly around, making sure no one were in eye sight.

"Hi, James." She smiled back. "What're you doing here?"

"Same as you, I guess," he shrugged. "I was going to study for the tests."

"I'm _trying_ to study," Lily said.

"Have any problems?" James asked.

"Transfiguration," she sighed.

"Oh," James said. "Remus _did_ mention you having problems with that."

"I'm almost as bad as _Pettigrew._"

James winced. "That's got to be a pain," he said.

"You bet."

"You know, I could help you," James said. Lily looked at him to see if he was joking. He wasn't.

"You sure? I mean, it's not like we're that good working together..." she stopped when James raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? I only thought that was because you hated me," he said.

"Well, yeah...I guess..." Lily fidgeted.

"So do you hate me?"

"No..." Lily blushed. "Not really."

"Then it's okay, right?" James looked at her, a smile erupting in his face.

"Yeah... but I don't want to stay in your debt, just so you know it."

"I've got it!" James snapped his fingers. Lily looked up at him. "You can help me with Charms!"

"Like you need any help!" Lily snorted.

"Well, um, no, not really..." James admitted. "But you _are_ by far the best student at Charms." Lily blushed again. _Damn. Why do I have to blush all the time?_

"Oh, all right," she said. "I'll help you with Charms. But you're helping me with Transfiguration first!"

James grinned at her. "It's a deal, Tigerlily."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Tigerlily?" she asked.

"I've got to call you _something_, you know. I mean, you've got all those nicknames for me: Dumbass, Stupid, Jerk, Idiot..."

"King of dandruff," Lily grinned.

"_Not_ King of dandruff," James disagreed.

"Oh? How can you be sure?" Lily said and ruffled his hair. "You've got so messy hair, you can't possibly see through it." Then she realised what she was doing, and pulled back her hand. James looked at her in a mysterious way. She blushed again, and took up her book.

"Are we going, then?" she asked.

"Sure we are," James said and smiled again. "Little Petal." They went marching out of the library, arm in arm.

"Dumbass."

"Tigerlily."

"Jerk."

"Rosie."

"Idiot."

"Fire."

"Pervert."

"I'm not a pervert, Flower."

"I'm not a fire, Dummy."

"That's okay, Spring leaves."

"Fine, Dickhead."

***

McGonnagal went through the corridors, in ever search of students doing anything they weren't supposed to do. She stopped abruptly, and turned towards one door to a classroom. She narrowed her eyes, and leaned her ear against it.

"No, you're doing it wrong!" she heard a boy's voice say. It was very familiar – she often had to talk to it's owner about lacking respect for the school's rules. "You have to _believe _in it. Else you're not going to accomplish anything!"

"Okay..." a girl's voice said reluctantly. McGonnagal stared at the door in disbelief. No...it _couldn't_ be them...together? It was unbelievable. McGonnagal took a deep breath and opened the door. Two students were leaning over something on a desk. The boy looked up, and shoved the girl in the ribs.

"Ouch!" she said angry. "What did you do that for? Oh, hi, professor."

"Hi, professor McGonnagal," James said calmly – not in his usual guilty tone when she caught him doing something. "I was just helping Lily with her transfiguration."

McGonnagal raised an eyebrow. The two teenagers looked rather uncomfortable with her being there. "Of course, Potter. That is very nice of you. But I would have liked it if you had asked for permission to use this classroom."

"Of course, professor. Can we use it?" James flashed his most innocent smile (which really didn't say much) at her.

"Yes, Potter. Just tell us next time. You may go back to work. See you on Monday." And she closed the door again and went down the corridor, barely hiding her shock from the students. _Potter and Evans? I can't believe it._ Then she smiled much like the cat she could change too. _I can't wait to tell Albus..._

And professor McGonnagal continued on her routine patrol, skipping as she went.

***

"Oh, no!" Lily moaned, burying her face in her hands. "Now everybody will now that you're helping me with Transfiguration..."

"Is that so bad?" James asked.

Lily stared at him. "Of course it's bad! They will think I've just been playing when I've said I hate you!"

"_Do_ you hate me?" James asked.

"No."

"So what's the big deal?"

"They're gonna think I like you, _that's_ the big deal!"

"Do you?" James asked, looking at her. She turned her head.

"I don't know," she muttered.

"I don't know as in: 'I don't want to tell you' or in 'I really don't know'?"

"I am not sure," Lily whispered.

James cupped her head in his hands, forcing her to look up at him.

"Then let's find out," he whispered.

***

"Lily? Lily! LILY EVANS!!!"

"Hmm?" Lily turned towards Molly. "What?"

Molly sighed. "Do you mind telling me what you're doing here?"

"Uh...going on a social call?" Lily tried.

Molly rolled her eyes. "You're out," she stated.

"Out?" Lily had a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Out. As in: not in this world right now. Dreamland."

"Oh."

"_Liiilyy._"

"Huh?"

"You haven't answered my question."

"What question?"

"Why you're here," Molly reminded her.

"Oh. A social call, right?"

"That doesn't explain why you got into our dorm and tossed yourself onto Marybelle's bed, _which is already occupied_,"

Lily jumped off Marybelle's rather squashed cat's tail, saying "I'm sorry" a hundred times. The cat just snorted indignantly and went over to Kathy's bed.

"with a look on your face like you're a five-year-old who got a lollipop the size of a House table," Molly finished.

"I do?" Lily asked surprised.

"_Yes._"

"Can't you see it, Molly?" Pennie smiled, her eyes twinkling.

"What?" Molly asked.

"Lily's _in love_," Kathy smiled knowingly.

"I'm not!" Lily protested a little too quickly.

"You are!" Pennie and Kathy said.

"You are?" Molly asked.

"Of course she is!" Pennie said. "She's in just the same state as you are every time you've been with Arthur!"

Molly gaped. "I do not look so ridiculous!" she protested.

"You do," Kathy said.

"Oh, no," Molly said, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh, yes," Pennie grinned.

"Who do you like?" Kathy asked, jumping up on Marybelle's bed beside Lily.

"No one," Lily said stubbornly.

"Who's no one?" Kathy didn't give up.

"No one!"

"Come oooon, Lily, we know you like someone," Pennie joined in too.

"No!"

"Yes."

Molly gasped with a sudden insight. "Is it..._James_?"

Lily went a very pink shade. "Absolutely not!" she said.

"It's James!" Kathy and Pennie squealed.

"No," Lily said, hiding under the quilt. Molly dragged her out.

"_Is_ it James?" she asked. Lily just blushed deeper.

"Oh my god!" Kathy gasped. "You're in love with James Potter!"

"What's so wrong with that?" Lily asked a little angry.

"So you admit it?" Kathy grinned.

"No!"

"Liiilyy."

"Yes." Lily dived under the quilt again, just to be dragged out again, this time by Pennie.

"You're in love with James Potter!" Pennie said.

"Gee, I haven't been told that," Lily said sarcastically. "What's wrong with it? Almost every other girl is!"

"They're not _in love_ with him," Molly disagreed. "They only _like_ him."

"What's the difference between me and them?"

"You act totally different," Kathy said.

"What's the difference between acting braindead and acting Molly-ish?" Lily asked.

"HEY!" Molly protested. Lily just grinned at her.

"It's just different, okay?" Kathy said impatiently.

"Hey, Lily, I thought you said you _hated_ James Potter," Pennie said.

"I do. Um, I did. I don't knooooow..." Lily shook her head.

"I think they are perfect," Molly said. "I just waited for this."

"What?!" The three other girls turned around to look at Molly.

"You make a perfect couple, Lily," Molly repeated. Pennie and Kathy looked at Lily again.

"Yeah," they agreed.

"Please don't tell anyone," Lily begged them.

"Of course not," Pennie said, grinning. "We'll tell _everyone._"

"Oh, no," Lily said and buried her face in her hands.

***

"Prongs? What's up, mate?" Sirius waved his hand in front of James' face.

"Hm?" James said.

"Come on, Prongs, snap out of it," Remus said. "You're starting to drool."

"JAMES POTTER! WAKE UP! EARTH IS CALLING!" Sirius yelled. The common room went silent in shock. James jerked up from his trance.

"Is it breakfast?" he asked dumbly. His fellow Marauders started to snicker. "What?" he asked.

"You should have seen the look on your face," Sirius gasped between laughter. "It was just perfect. Too bad Remus didn't find his camera."

"Just like you found a new passageway leading to Honeydukes' candy store," Remus laughed.

"You looked really stupid," Peter supplied.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," James said sourly.

"What's the matter, Prongs?" Sirius grinned. "Did we wake you up from your favourite dream?"

"Can't you see it, Padfoot?" Remus said, tossing an arm around James' shoulders. "Our Head Boy has found love."

James gaped. "I have?"

"Oh, yes," Remus grinned. "She's a flower, isn't she?" He sighed as he stared off into the distance.

"Huh?" was all James could think of saying.

"I totally agree with Prongs," Sirius grinned. "What an extra-ordinary way of arguing, James."

"Huh?"

"Good luck, Jamie my boy," Sirius said and patted James' shoulder. "You're going to need it." Then he went off in search of Hidney Hox, the school's biggest gossiper.

***

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" Laura said cheerfully. Lily just grunted and rolled over on her bed. "Come on!" Laura pulled the curtains away from the window, revealing a sparkling Sunday morning. Lily placed the pillow over her head.

"What time is it?" her muffled voice came from the heap on the bed.

"Six thirty," Laura said cheerfully. Lily jerked up.

"SIX THIRTY?! YOU WAKE ME UP AT SIX THIRTY?!" Then she looked out the window. "Oh. Can't be that early, the sun's up."

Laura giggled. "You've noticed."

Lily looked at the alarm clock on her bed stand. It shoved 9:30. "You're evil, Laura," she said.

"I know," Laura said. "But you're going to miss breakfast if you don't get up."

"Oh, man!" Lily jumped up and into her school robes. She and Laura went down the stairs.

As she and Laura hurried to the Great Hall for breakfast, Lily noticed that many girls passing them in the corridor shot her dirty looks. One Hufflepuff sixth year even stopped them in the corridor and just glared at Lily.

"What's up with them?" Lily wondered.

"Beats me," Laura said, shrugging.

They went into the Great Hall, and stopped abruptly at the sight before them. Hanging from the wall behind the Gryffindor table and to the wall behind the Ravenclaw table was a large, pink banner. It read: James Potter and Lily Evans are an item! 

Lily gaped in shock. Laura stared at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" she asked.

"But...we're not..." Lily spluttered.

"You aren't?"

"No...not now, anyway."

"Then ignore it," Laura said calmly. "It's just someone pulling a prank."

"Yeah..." Lily said distantly. _I'm gonna KILL Pennie and Kathy!_ she thought.

Just then Sirius bounced by. "Hi, Lily dear! How are you and James doing?" And he bounced off. Lily gaped again.

"Shut your mouth, Lily," Laura said. "You're looking very stupid." Lily shut her mouth. They went to the Ravenclaw table. Lily ate absentmindedly, noticing all the ice stares she got. _Damn banner_, she thought. Just then professor McGonnagal entered.

"What the-" she shut her mouth abruptly before some nasty words slipped through it, and waved her wand. The banner disappeared. Lily breathed a sigh of relief – although she couldn't quite understand why she hadn't done it herself – and turned her attention to her breakfast.

Unfortunately for Lily, most of the school had seen the banner. As she went to the library, girls went up to her and said how they hated her because of 'hexing James to like you' and that she should just wait, because James would dump her after one day – he would realise what a stupid bitch she were.

"Sure, I don't mind waiting," Lily called after one of the girls that had said just that.

Of course, some of them was content with stalk up to her, glare at her with hatred, and slap her. It was with a very aching cheek that Lily reached the library. There she was thrown out because she was 'the source of too much noise' (quote: Madame Pince, the librarian). Although Lily didn't think it was her fault – it was all the girls that came up to her and started yelling at her that made the noise. _Maybe I'll just work in the common room,_ she thought. She didn't like working in the common room – too many playing Exploding Snap, too much yelling and too much giggling, too many first years running around...all in all, she couldn't concentrate.

She reached the common room without too many encounters, and dumped into one of the squashy armchairs by the fire, sighing with relief.

"Hi!" It was Nicki.

"Hi, Nicki. You haven't come to yell at me too, right?" Lily looked up at Nicki.

"Of course not, Lily. I like Sirius Black, not James Potter!"

"Great," Lily mumbled.

"So, is it true?" Nicki nodded in the somewhat direction of the Great Hall.

"No. Not really."

"Too bad," Nicki sighed. "Potter _is_ a hottie, after all."

"Anything you say."

"Oh, my. What happened to your cheek?" Nicki stared at Lily's swollen cheek.

"Oh, this? Just some angry Hufflepuffs." Nicki winced in sympathy. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Lily."

"Laura didn't overreact when she saw the banner. I thought she liked Ja- Potter," Lily corrected herself a little too late, but Nicki didn't notice.

"Oh, that's because she's seeing someone. She doesn't like James anymore."

"Who's she seeing?"

"You know Diggory?"

"The Hufflepuff Seeker?" Lily asked.

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Yeah. Say, Lily," Nicki said, eyeing Lily's cheek again. "Maybe you should go to the hospital wing with that."

***

"Oh, my," madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, said when Lily entered the hospital wing. "What happened to your cheek?"

"Mad girls," Lily muttered.

"Oh." It seemed like madame Pomfrey had seen the banner in the Great Hall, too. "Let's just see what we can do about it, shall we?" Lily nodded. "Come and sit here," madame Pomfrey said and patted on one of the hospital beds. "Poppy!" she shouted.

"Yes, mum, what is it?" a young woman answered.

"Could you see to miss Evans, here?"

"Sure," Poppy smiled. "Let's see...the cooling cream?"

"Yes, Poppy, that is just what I thought too," madame Pomfrey smiled proudly. To Lily, she said: "Poppy here is my daughter. She graduated from Hogwarts five years ago, and is my apprentice. She's going to be the school nurse when I retire."

"_Mum_, could you please go see some of the other sick students? I've got to keep my mind on this one."

"Yes, of course," madame Pomfrey said and disappeared again.

"She's proud of you, isn't she?" Lily noted as Poppy opened a bottle with what looked like thick, yellow mud.

"Yeah. It's a family business. Nursing, I mean."

"Oh."

"Okay, I want you to keep still now. You don't want to have this in your mouth, now do you?" Lily shook her head. Poppy groped down in the bottle and started to smear the mud on Lily's swollen cheek. "I'm doing the spots near the mouth first...now you can talk again, if you want to. Say, how did this happen?" Poppy asked curiously as she smeared the mud over the left half of Lily's face. Lily felt it cool down her heated cheek.

"Jealous girls," Lily said. Poppy raised an eyebrow. "They think I'm going out with James Potter," Lily explained.

"Ah," Poppy said delicately. "And that's not the case?"

"No," Lily said.

"Poor you," Poppy said sympathetically.

"Yeah. Now I can't go around in the corridors without somebody screaming, yelling or just slapping me."

"Oh, my. You've got a shallow cut here."

"That's probably Daisy from Hufflepuff's work," Lily said. "She's got nails one and a half inches long." Poppy winced.

"I'll just get a cleaning compound," she said and went out the door.

***

"Done!" Poppy said with some satisfaction. Lily looked at her left cheek in the mirror. It had cooled down a bit so it didn't look so swollen and red, and the cut Daisy had left when she had slapped her where starting to diminish. 

"Can I go now?" she asked. Poppy shook her head.

"I would like it much better if you stayed here an hour or two. It heals faster that way. There's some books over there if you want to read something, although I recommend sleeping." Poppy went out the door with a smile to Lily. Lily sighed and looked over the books. It was mostly romance – not her style. She laid down on the bed and tried to sleep.

Lily opened her eyes and gave a start. She was staring into a pair of hazel brown eyes behind some glasses.

"How did you get in?" she whispered.

James faked a look of hurt. "No 'hello'? No 'hi'? No 'Good to see you'? You have crushed my heart, Lily."

"Shhh! They will hear you!" Lily hissed, although she was grinning.

"What makes you think I sneaked in here without permission?" James said, still only an inch from her face.

"Hmm, let me see," Lily said sarcastically. "One thing is that they would never allow you in, another is that they would keep watch at the door – which they obviously don't – _if_ they let you in, and of course me seeing only your face leaves some suspicion."

James looked down – James' _head_ looked down. "Oh, I forgot about that," he grinned.

"So why are you here?" Lily asked.

"Why do you think?" James retorted.

"I dunno," Lily shrugged. "To irritate me?"

"Do you really think I would do that?" James grimaced.

"Yes. No. I'm not sure..."

"Well, maybe the James-you-hate would do just that, but I'm not that guy anymore."

"You aren't?" Lily said in mock surprise. "What time is it?"

"Twelve o'clock," James said. "I was thinking...would you like to have a dance lesson?"

Lily gaped. "Now?"

"Now."

"Sure... but Poppy won't let me go before at least one o'clock."

James shrugged. "I've got the Invisibility cloak with me," he said, nodding towards his invisible body. Lily nodded. "You don't sound surprised," he said disappointed.

"Of you having an Invisibility cloak? No," Lily shook her head. It made their noses rub each other. "Remus told me."

"Bad Remus," James said.

"Um...James?" Lily said awkwardly.

"Yes?"

"Could you roll off me so we don't have to bang our heads together every time we nod?"

"Now, don't be so boring, Lily."

"Boring?!"

"Okay, not boring. But think of this like an adventure!" James grinned at her.

"Adventure? Hey, it _is_ new. I mean, this is the first time you've been lying on top of me without me biting you or us kissing."

"That reminds me..." James said, and kissed her.

"Ahem," a voice from the door said. They both looked up. Poppy stood in the doorway, with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face. "Get out, the both of you," she grinned and nodded backwards. "You're free to go, miss Evans." (A/N: Poppy was a lot more understanding when she was young.)

Lily and James stood up (in James' case his head moved upwards), and went blushing through the door.

"Wait," Lily said as they stood in the corridor. "I don't want to meet any angry mobs." James grinned.

"That's okay," he said. "Come in here." He held open the Invisibility cloak so she could get in beside him. He took it over their heads, and they started walking down the corridor, trying not to step on each other's feet. It wasn't easy: although the Invisibility cloak was big, it was a bit cramped with two tall sixth years in it, even if they weren't big in the breadth. The fact that James had a hand firmly around Lily's waist and the other holding the cloak together (the buttons had fallen off, and they came from Egypt) didn't help much. Lily couldn't object because that would blow their cover, but when they finally reached the classroom they used at dancing lessons and they was safe inside with the Invisibility cloak off, she turned on James with fire in her eyes.

"Don't you _dare_ do that again without my permission!" she said, poking her finger on his chest. He grinned at her.

"You're cute when you're angry," he said. She gaped at him.

"What?" she said dumbly.

"But not when you act like that," he grinned. Lily clamped her mouth shut.

"You're cute, you too," she smiled and ruffled his messy hair. "When did you last brush this?"

He smiled back. "A few years ago, I think."

"A few _years_?"

"Yeah. It's no use anyway." He shrugged.

"Let's dance," Lily said suddenly.

"Okay," James said. "What do you want to dance? Cha cha cha?"

"Nah. I can dance that. Let's take the mambo."

"Okay." James transformed one of the desks to a CD-player. (A/N: Read the Author's Note at the beginning of this chapter for explanation.) "How much did you learn from Remus?" James asked.

"The steps," Lily said.

James raised an eyebrow. "Which pattern?" he asked.

"The original. Nothing of the fancy stuff, as he called it."

"Right. Did he, um, teach you the beginning?"

"No..."

"Right. Let's take that first. Stand here." James pointed to a spot on the floor. "Don't spread your legs too much." He went behind Lily, and placed his right hand on her hip. Then he placed her left arm around his neck and her right arm in the strait jacket position. "Now look at me, and stand still. Don't hit me," he said. Lily raised an eyebrow. "And don't turn around like that. Only your head. Lean it against me." Lily did. James took up his left hand, and ran it from Lily's left elbow downwards her arm and down her side. Lily's eyes widened a little. Then she started to shake with laughter.

"That tickles," she giggled, turning away from his hand.

"Lily_,_" he said.

"Okay," she smiled, and took up the position again. "I'll concentrate." James started again at her elbow. This time he didn't even reach below her arm.

"_Lily!"_

"I'm sorry! It just tickles too much!"

"One more time, and I loose my patience," James warned.

"You have a patience?" she asked with innocent eyes. James slapped her ass. "Hey!" she protested, hiding a little smile.

"The position, please," James smiled, 'ignoring' her. She grumbled a little and placed her arm around his neck. He ran his arm down from her elbow. He could feel her suppressing the laughter. He smiled down at her, never letting go of her eyes. He reached her hip, and got her hand. "Now, I'll send you out. Take my other hand, and we begin the steps," he whispered. She nodded. He pushed her hip with his right hand, and she turned out, gripping his right hand with the one she had had around his neck. They started the steps, their eyes never letting go of each other.

***

On Monday it was Potions test time. Lily wasn't particular nervous – she had no problems in Potions.

"Today we will make the Antijinx Liquid," professor Riverblade said in her cold voice. "You will work in pairs when testing your potion." She took out a list, and started to read up names. When she came to Evans, Lily hold her breath. "Evans, Lily. Graham, Daisy." Lily groaned. Of all the people... the worst part was that to pass the test, they had to curse their partner. Daisy holding back was as likely as Salazar Slytherin hating snakes.

Lily looked over at Daisy, seeing that she didn't plan to move. Lily sighed, lifted her cauldron up, and went over to Daisy, who was grinning evilly.

***

Lily walked with Laura, Nicki and Syn to the Great Hall for dinner after finishing Potions. This proved rather difficult since Lily was attacked for every step she took. When they some corridors from the Hall saw an angry mob of Hufflepuffs heading towards them from a side corridor, Nicki said:

"Run for it, Lily." Lily didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted down the corridor. When the Hufflepuffs saw this, they shouted angrily and ran after her. Laura conjured a long string that stretched from one wall of the corridor to the other, just in leg height. This bought Lily some time, although the Hufflepuffs were very angry with them.

"Just you wait," Daisy, the leader, said. "When we're finished with Evans," she spat the name, "we're going after _you._"

"Suit yourself," Nicki said as she, Laura and Syn headed down the corridor to the Great Hall, taking up as much space as they could. 

Lily ran into the Great Hall. Fortunately for her, there always was some teachers attending the dinner at all times, unlike at breakfast. Therefore, she was remotely safe.

She looked around, and noted that many shot glances at her. They could be hatred, jealousy, humour or puzzlement. She looked over at the Gryffindor table, where James sat. He didn't get any of these glances – if he did, he didn't notice. He was laughing his head off at something Sirius or Remus – she wasn't sure which. She noted that Pettigrew was gone again. James looked very carefree.

"That's it," she muttered. She strode to the Gryffindor table and went over to James, with her hands on her hips. James had turned towards Remus to say something and hadn't noticed her. Remus and Sirius had, though.

"Um, James..." Sirius started.

"What?" James asked puzzled.

"Turn around," Remus said. James turned, and looked at the steaming Lily.

"Oh. Hi, Lily. Is...er...something wrong?"

At first Lily didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth, and closed it again. Then it was like someone pulled a tape away from her mouth. "Something wrong?" she repeated. "Something _wrong_?! No, I'm sorry to say, I don't think so. Besides me getting attacked every time I walk down a corridor, getting hexed three hundred times by Daisy Graham with her getting away with it because it's _part of our damn test_, everyone staring at me all the time and _you _not getting any of this shit, no, I _don't think anything's wrong._" She took a deep breath. Remus and Sirius gaped at her. They didn't know she knew those words. James, though, had heard her call him much worse a few times.

"That's the best you can do?" he asked. Lily glared at him.

"OK," she said. "You asked for it." And then she started with a language that made Sirius, Remus and James first go white, then blush a deep red, pale again and so on in rapid succession. A seventh year who sat a few seats further down the table covered the first year beside him's ears with his hands. Another student had taken notes, but stopped when Lily started on men's anatomical built.

"Is _that_ possible?" Remus whispered to Sirius.

"I hope not," Sirius whispered back. Lily took a deep breath, and gave some yukky finishing lines. For a moment everything was quiet. Then the students began to eat again.

"That was better," James said a little high-pitched.

"Yeah," Lily sighed. Then she hit him in the shoulder.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

"You made me use up my anger!"

"Is _that_ possible?" Sirius whispered to Remus.

"I hope so," he whispered back. Lily fortunately (for them) didn't hear them.

"I don't feel like yelling at you anymore!" she said.

"But you already have!" James protested.

"No! I talked in a normal speaking level!"

James sighed. "What's the point of this?" he asked.

"Could you tell them to stop?" Lily asked.

"That's it?" Sirius said surprised.

"Well, I doubt that they would attack _him_," Lily said, pointing a finger at James.

"Oh, all right," James said resigned.

"Good," Lily said with some satisfaction. "Well? Are you going to do it or not?"

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it," James grumbled and stood up. "ATTENTION EVERYONE!" he called, silencing the talking students. "Professor, if you don't mind..?" The professor present had fainted at Lily's speech and gave no response. James just shrugged and continued, just as Daisy and her gang entered. "You may know," James began, "that _people_ has been claiming that Lily Evans and I are going out." He paused a little, looking around at the students. Hidney Hox and Sirius fidgeted a little. "That is _not_ the case. Not that I'm aware of, at any rate." There was a small wave of laughter. "I would like it better if you would leave Lily in peace, since you've got no reason to pester her. And even if we _do_ become a couple, I am sure it won't be from some love potion. Thank you."

He sat down and turned towards Lily, smiling. "Was that what you had in mind?" he asked.

"...sort of," Lily said. "Well, I'll be off. Oh, what about we go ask Dumbledore if we could do that shopping for the ball today?"

"Sure. After dinner, then?" James said.

"Okay," she smiled went over to the Ravenclaw table. 

"My, my, my," Sirius said, looking at Lily's retreating figure.

"What?" James asked.

"Looks like I'm going to lose a bet, eh, Moony?" Sirius nudged Remus in the ribs.

"Sure does, Padfoot," Remus grinned. They winked at James.

"What are you guys talking about?" James asked in confusion, but Remus and Sirius only grinned wider.

***

"Well, this seems to be all right," Dumbledore said, reading over the shopping list. "Do you want to get it yourselves?"

"Sure," Lily said. "I need a little break from school anyway. We'll just ask for travel wrapping."

"Yeah," James agreed.

"Okay," Dumbledore said, and opened one of his desk drawers. "Here you go," he said as he pulled out a large, clirring bag. "But I want the bill."

"Thanks," Lily and James smiled, and went out the door again. Dumbledore stared at the spot they had stood, a smile playing over his lips and his eyes twinkling with satisfaction.

***

"Anything else, dears?" the shop assistant asked.

"No, thank you," Lily said. "Could we get it travel wrapped?"

"Of course, dear," the witch smiled. She began putting all the candies and snacks into a normal-looking plastic bag. The bag was like a black hole: even though Lily and James were buying what seemed like half of the shop, the bag didn't even look half full. When James lifted it up, it was feather-light.

"That will be thirty galleons and seven sickles, dear," the witch said to Lily. Lily handed over the money.

"Have a nice day!" the witch called after Lily as she went out of Honeydukes to the waiting James.

"Hi, _dear,_" he said. "Would you like to buy the shop, dear?"

"Oh, drop it, James," Lily smiled. "It's her job to be polite."

"Yeah," James snorted. "Especially when you've got such money spending customers as us." He imitated the shop witch's voice. "Would you like some Flying Bars, dears? Or maybe you want some Tooth Ache Caramels?' I tell you, she wanted us to buy the whole store."

"I think you're overreacting," Lily said, smiling at his obvious displeasure.

"I _hate_ it when people call me 'dear'. I get the feeling they think I'm five years old, or that they're trying to manipulate me."

"Now, dear, you shouldn't think like that." Lily grinned. "_No one_ would ever try to manipulate _you_."

"Why, you-" James started, grabbing for her. Lily squealed and ran up the alley, giggling. James stuffed the bag with the goods from Honeydukes into his coat pocket, and ran after her. Then Lily tripped, landing in a pile of snow heaped at the wall of one of the houses. James advanced on her casually.

"Lily?" he asked. There was a sniff from the pile known as Lily, and James bent down. "Lily, are you okay?" Lily looked up at him, and James saw that she was smiling. Suddenly he felt snow running down his back inside his robes. Lily giggled, but squealed as James shoved her head down in the pile of snow.

"James!" Then it was his turn to run, with Lily getting up from the pile of snow and sprinting after him. They were laughing and giggling so much they almost couldn't run. Suddenly James felt Lily jump on his legs from behind, knocking him down into the snow. He rolled over onto his back, but couldn't get up because Lily sat on top of him, pinning him down. She had red roses in her cheeks and her eyes were sparkling with laughter. Her hair were windblown and snow was falling into it, making white blotches on the red.

James got a sudden idea, and grinned. Lily raised an eyebrow. James started to tickle her, making her go into hysterical fits of laughter. Then she started to tickle him, and he was no better at holding himself from laughing.

Soon they were exhausted, and just lay there, as the snow fell silently around them. James looked up in Lily's emerald green eyes, feeling himself fall deeper and deeper into them. Lily looked straight back. Then she leaned her head down and gave him a long, sweet kiss.

***

"He-llo, Jamie-boy," Sirius said as James entered the Gryffindor common room.

"What is it now?" James asked a little tired.

"What have you been up to?" Sirius asked, still in that annoying tone saying 'I know that you've been up to something not entirely inside the school rules'.

"Nothing," James said. He didn't want to play this game with Sirius: he would much rather day dream about Lily Evans.

"You've got lipstick on your mouth," Sirius said as James slumped down in one of the comfy chairs by the fire.

"Lily doesn't wear lipstick," James said as he swung his legs over one of the arms of the chair.

"Hah! I _told_ you you'd been up to something!" Sirius said with a triumphant smile.

"Huh?" Remus, who had been absorbed by a book, said from the chair beside James. Peter had disappeared again.

"Prongs has been snogging with the Head Girl," Sirius informed him.

"We weren't snogging," James grumbled.

"No licking?" Sirius asked.

"Yuck, Padfoot," Remus said. James shook his head.

"No suck marks distribution?"

"You've got a dirty mind, Sirius," James said, shaking his head again.

"Not even with tongues?" Sirius asked disappointed.

"No tongues."

"Man. What were you doing?" Sirius didn't like this at all.

James shrugged. "Shopping for the Christmas Ball."

"Boring," Sirius muttered.

"Oh, come on, Padfoot," Remus said, smiling at the look on Sirius' face. "Not everybody are like you." Sirius just glared at him. 

"You look like a baby who had a lollipop right under his nose, and it suddenly disappeared," James observed.

"And you look like you won a million galleons," Sirius said.

"No," James sighed with a dreamy smile. "Better than that."

"Yuk," Sirius said in disgust. "Want to play Exploding Snap, Moony?" 

***

"Will you need us more now?" James asked.

"No, we'll see to the rest," McGonnagal said with a rare smile.

"Thank you," Lily said. She and James went out of the Great Hall.

"Could you just wait a sec for me?" Lily asked. "I don't remember the password to the Pink Lady."

"Huh? Why do you want it?" James asked.

"I'm going to make myself ready with Molly and the others," Lily explained.

"Um...sure," James said. He didn't have anything against going with Lily to the common room.

Lily smiled, making his knees water. "Great!" she said. "It won't take long, I've got all my stuff in a bag in my dorm." And she ran to the Ravenclaw wing.

__

I wonder if she's going with anybody, James thought.

__

Why not ask her? another voice said.

__

What if she says she's going with somebody else?

You're just afraid.

I'm not.

Then ask her.

Just then Lily came back, panting and slightly red. "Sorry. Did I take long?" she asked.

"No, not at all," James assured her.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as they walked to the Gryffindor common room. James' thoughts were arguing with each other.

__

Ask her!

No, I don't want to.

Of course you want to. Don't try to trick me – I'm you, remember?

I decide what to do and not do.

You're afraid, aren't you.

No I'm not!

Then ask her!

Um...

Come on! Ask! Now! ASKASKASKASK!

"Um...Lily?" James said nervously.

Lily looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Yes?"

James felt himself blush. "Nothing," he mumbled.

__

Coward.

***

(A/N: Guys who don't want to read girls-who-are-changing scenes, skip this paragraph. There. You have been warned.)

Lily knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Pennie's voice asked.

"Lily," Lily said. Pennie opened the door an inch or two and scanned the corridor. Seeing no one except Lily, she opened the door and backed away so Lily could come in. When Lily was inside, she locked the door again.

"Hi, Lil! Did you bring it?" Molly asked, coming over to Lily and wearing nothing but bra and panties.

"Of course," Lily said and looked around. It seemed like Pennie was the only one not in her underwear. _Now I understand the security._

"Girls, I need some advise here," Kathy said. "Should I wear bra?"

"Let me look at your dress," Marybelle said. She examined it. "No, you don't need to. It's got an extra layer in the top."

"Okay," Kathy said and changed into her dress. "I can do your hair now, Molly."

"Great! Lily?"

"Just a sec," Lily said and rummaged through her bag, retrieving a little ball of white, thin velvet strings. "Here."

"Thanks," Molly said and gave it to Kathy, who had begun to brush Molly's hair.

"Where can I put my things?" Lily asked. Marybelle pointed to her bed. "Thanks." Lily stripped down to t shirt and panties and started shaving her legs.

"Who are you going with, Kathy?" she asked.

"John Bell," Kathy said and blushed a little.

"Oh, the Gryffindor chaser? He's cute," Lily smiled.

"You should have seen her when he asked," Marybelle grinned. "She had been hoping for weeks and weeks, and when he at last ask her, she go red as a tomato and just stare at him."

"I did not!" Kathy protested as she started braiding Molly's outer layer of hair.

"Did too," Marybelle retorted. "He almost took it back: she looked so shocked. Fortunately she came to her senses in time and said yes." They laughed.

"Say, who are you going with, Lily? James?" Pennie asked as she changed to her dress robes.

"I'm not sure," Lily said.

"What?" Marybelle said in disbelief.

"You're not _sure_?" Molly said and turned to stare at Lily, causing Kathy to jank her hair.

"Keep your head still!" she said to Molly. Molly obeyed. To Lily, Kathy said: "He hasn't asked you or anything?"

"No," Lily said. "We haven't talked about it. But I think he likes me a little."

"Well, he certainly has had a lot of offers," Pennie said thoughtfully.

"And turned them all down," Molly added. "Say, how far have you come?"

"What?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Lily. We know you didn't have dancing lessons with Remus last Friday, because he was sick. The girls from your dorm said you had went on a dancing lesson when we looked for you, so you've got to have danced with someone. And then, three hours later, James comes into the common room looking like he'd been in paradise."

Lily got a rather pleased look on her face. But she only said: "Nothing much."

"Define 'nothing much'," Pennie said.

"Kissing," Lily said.

"How many times?" Pennie pressed.

"Five," Lily said casually. The others whistled.

"Tongue kissing?" Kathy asked.

"No."

"You're some space behind Molly and Arthur, then," Marybelle said. "They-"

"That's enough," Molly said blushing. "No reason to get into details here."

"Molly! I am utterly shocked!" Lily faked an expression of disbelief. Molly threw a pillow at her, making Kathy scold at her again.

***

"So, Prongs," Sirius said over their chess game. "Who are you going with?"

"I don't know," James said calmly.

"_What?! _You _don't know_?!"

"Nope."

"James, you've got at least _a hundred_-"

"More like fifty," James corrected.

"-okay, fifty. At least fifty girls have asked you to go with them to the ball, and you've turned down _all of them_?!"

"Yes, Padfoot. And it's no use getting all worked up, you know."

"But, but," Sirius stuttered.

"Let's just say you don't have to go with Hidney, eh Padfoot?" Remus said from his position in a comfy chair.

"It's a deal," Sirius said.

"What are you talking about?" James looked up confused.

"Oh, nothing, Jamie my boy," Sirius tried to grin innocently, and failed completely. "Check mate."

***

"So," Pennie said and jumped up on the bed where Lily was sitting. "Was he good?"

"What?!" Lily stared at her.

"Was he good," Pennie repeated.

"Oh. Right. Yeah.(Dreamy sigh) The best."

"Pennie, don't pester her," Molly said. "I know _I_ wouldn't like telling how Arthur kiss in that stage."

"Okay, I'll wait a few months," Pennie grinned mischievously. "Then I want it in detail."

"Sure thing, honey," Lily joked.

"Pennie's almost as bad as Sirius when it comes to those things," Kathy said. "Only, she doesn't have personal experience."

Pennie just grinned with the rest of them.

"Can I do your hair, Lily?" Kathy asked. She had just finished with Molly's, and the others were examining her handywork.

"It's just beautiful, Molly," Marybelle said.

"Yeah. Let's see with the dress," Lily said. Molly smiled and changed.

"Perfect!" They all agreed. Kathy had braided the outmost layer of Molly's hair into a braid, three strings the exact colour of her dress in each lock in the braid. They were attached to her hair at her brow.

"Oh, I was wondering you could do that," Lily smiled. "Just let me change into the dress."

"How do you want it?" Kathy asked.

"Well, I thought of just let it hang loose, but if we're going to dance, it would just get in the way," Lily said. "What do you think I should have?"

"Hmmm," Kathy said thoughtfully. "Just let me try something, 'kay?"

"Uh-huh," Lily said.

"So, what do you think?" Kathy asked with satisfaction in her voice.

"Oh, it's great, Kathy!" Lily smiled.

"Now I'll do my _own_ hair," Kathy said with a little sigh.

"How are you going to have it?" Lily asked.

"Loose," Kathy grinned.

***

"There she is," Remus said a little relieved. James looked up and saw Marybelle walk down the girls' staircase.

"You coming, James?" Remus asked.

"No, you guys go ahead," James said. "I'll just wait here a few minutes."

"Okay," Remus said and went out the portrait hole with Marybelle. She gave him a mysterious smile, and mouthed: 'She'll be down soon.' James mouthed a surprised 'thanks', and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Look who's here! Who are you waiting for?"

James turned towards the voice, and gaped. Lily stood there at the base of the staircase, a nervous look on her face. She had form hugging emerald green robes which was open for the legs in the front with a flowing hem at the split. The robes had quadratic cleavage in the front, and as Lily went over to him, James saw that her back was bare to below her shoulder blades. Her hair was tied up in an elegant knot, with ringlets falling down from it. Her foremost locks hang loose, and had a silver necklace with a lily on it around her neck.

"Uh...," James said. "I...um...I...was...uh...looking for...you, I think." Lily smiled, and James was thankful for sitting in a chair – his legs had turned to butter.

"That's nice of you. So you're not going with anyone?"

"No. But if you...uh…want to…" James stammered.

"Of course!" Lily smiled a happy smile, and jerked her chin towards the portrait hole. James stood up and said:

"You're…um…really beautiful tonight. Even more than usual." Lily smiled at him and kissed him on the nose.

"Thank you," she said. "You look great too." James blushed a little. "No glasses?"

"I thought they would be in the way," James shrugged. Lily nodded. "What did you do to your hair?" she asked curiously.

"I used a straightening potion," James explained and grimaced. "It's almost tidy." Lily smiled.

"I like it." She flung her arm around his shoulders and pressed her side against his. "Let's go."

They went through the portrait hole.

***

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked as they went over to his table. His eyes swept over Lily. "Nice dress, Lily."

"So, you're going together?" Remus asked.

"Are we?" Lily asked in mock surprise. "I didn't know."

"Looks like you have to change your appearance a little, Sirius," Remus grinned at his friend.

"I must, mustn't I," Sirius sighed. He got out his wand and tapped it at his hair. It turned instantly a heaven blue. Then he got out a pair of boxers, and stuffed them into his robe pocket so you could see half of it. "You only said _visible_," he grinned.

Lily stared at Sirius and Remus in disbelief. "_That_ was what you were betting about? If I and James would go out? You are the worst pair of-"

"Hey, it got you and James together, didn't it?" Remus protested.

"So that was why you taught me how to dance," Lily said. "I said to James I couldn't go with him because I couldn't dance, and therefore you taught me so I didn't have any excuse."

"You were having a _bet_?" James said.

"Yes! And you guys made it a helluva tricky decision about who won since you didn't make up your minds about going with each other until the last minute," Sirius scolded.

"Not that you didn't use that to your advantage," Remus said to him. "You didn't have to go with Hidney Hox after all."

"Yes, thank god for that!" Sirius grinned. "She's okay at spreading rumours, but otherwise..." he shuddered. "Oh, there's Nicki. See you later!"

"Nicki?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it looks like he's got a new girl in sight again," Remus mused. "Sorry, I've gotta go, Marybelle's calling."

Just then Dumbledore rose from the staff table (which was the only big table in the room) and called for silence. "Good day," he said. "I just want to say a few words. If anyone want anything to eat or drink, you can find it on the table by the door. Now, I think we will start with some good, regular dancing, and later you can do as you wish. Now, I give you our orchestra for the day...the Bumblebees!"

Everybody (ok, the girls were dominating) squealed as the wizard world's most popular band the last few years started to play on the stage. It wasn't one of their own songs, but a fast-moving swing. Since it wasn't quite out of date, most of the students knew it.

"Come on," Lily tugged at James' shirt (he, like many other boys, had chosen trouser in preference to robes, in his case black trousers and a loose, white shirt) and led him out onto the floor. "Let's dance."

***

"Looks like the dancing lessons has started to pay off," Laura observed, looking at Lily and James who were whirling around on the dancing floor.

"Yeah," Nicki agreed. "Say, Sirius," she turned towards Sirius, "can you dance too?"

He grinned. "Of course."

Nicki giggled, and walked onto the floor with Sirius in tow.

***

The music changed. "Tango!" James grinned. "I like that!"

"Gee, I wonder why," Lily smiled at him as they took up the position. She shot some sidelong glances at the other dancing pairs. "You know," she said conversationaly, "the others have got some inches between each other."

"Don't you like it this way?" James asked innocently.

"I didn't say that," Lily grinned, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's shock 'em."

***

Lily and James were so absorbed by the dance that they almost didn't notice that the other students had cleared a space for them to dance, and was clapping. It was rather cool, Lily admitted.

"May I have your attention, please," Dumbledore said as the tango stopped. The students turned towards him. "We have picked out the couple we find most skilled, and would like them to do a little dance for us. If miss Evans and mister Potter could come up here, please."

The students clapped. Lily and James looked at each other, grinned and went up on the stage to Dumbledore.

"So," Dumbledore said. "Here's a little task for you. I want you to dance one dance – you decide which – and when you're done, you get a prize."

Lily and James nodded, and said to the Bumblebees: "Mambo." The head vocalist grinned encouragingly to them, and struck the tune. Lily and James started to dance.

***

"Man, I'm exhausted!" Lily said and dumped down on a chair by the table where Remus, Marybelle, Sirius and Nicki sat.

"That was great!" Nicki exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm proud of you, my pupil," Remus grinned.

"Oh?" Lily said with a raised eyebrow. "You only taught me the original steps. You didn't even have the guts to teach me the beginning!"

"And I'm glad for that!" Marybelle grinned.

"Me too," James agreed. "Is there a free chair somewhere?" The others looked around too.

"Nope," Sirius said.

"You can sit here," Lily said and stood up, and sat down on James' lap when he sat down. James put his arms around her waist.

"This is nice," he murmured in her ear. She chuckled and leaned closer to him.

The Bubblebees struck one of their own songs – one of the fast ones – and soon the dancing floor was full of people again.

"Come on," Sirius said and to Nicki. She smiled and went with him to the dancing floor.

"You want to too?" Marybelle asked Remus. He grinned.

"Sure."

Lily and James found themselves alone at the table.

"If you want to, I can sit on one of the other chairs," Lily said.

"No," James said and squeezed her a little. "I like this." Lily smiled at him, and kissed his nose.

"Fine by me," she said.

***

As the night wore on, the songs changed to slower ones.

"James?" Lily asked, indicating the dancing floor.

"Yeah, okay," James smiled. "Just let me get rid of our prize." He went over to the snacks table where Dumbledore stood, and asked:

"Could you look after this for me?" Dumbledore nodded, his eyes twinkling. James went over to Lily again, and they went to the dancing floor.

At first they had a little space between them, their hands hanging loose around the other's neck/waist. But as the songs went on, they grew closer and closer. Lily had her head on his shoulder, and James had his chin on top of her head.

"James?" Lily murmured with closed eyes.

"Hmm?" James said, exhaling in the lovely smell of her hair.

"I think I like this dance best." 

"Hm-hmm." James closed his eyes too.

"And you know what?" She lifted her head up to look at him. James felt himself again drowning in her amazing eyes. They had turned a deep, deep green in the subdued light.

"No."

"If I didn't love you, I would be kicking you in the groin right now for having your hands on my butt."

"Oh," James said, and started to move his hands upwards.

"Did I say that you had to move them?" Lily murmured. James smiled into her hair and stopped his hands. Then he got a sudden idea and pinched her.

"You're pressing your luck," Lily warned, although James could feel her smiling.

"Should we go get our prize before Dumbledore eats it?" James suggested as the song stopped.

"Okay. Maybe we should eat it, too," Lily said. "Before Sirius wants a share."

"A good idea. Sirius could eat up the whole of the school's food store if he got the chance."

They went to the snacks table (it was almost empty now) and got the prize from a snoring Dumbledore.

"I know a place where we can have it to ourselves," Lily whispered to James. He nodded and followed after her through the corridors, up to-

"The Head Students' bathroom? I didn't even know we had one!" James said.

Lily smiled. "Well, it's even better than the Prefects' bath. There _is_ some profits of being a Head Student, after all."

James grinned. "What's the password?"

"Lime bubbles," Lily said. The door to the bathroom opened, and they went inside.

"Nice," James observed, as he looked at the room.

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "The bathtub is twice as big as the tub in the Prefects' bath: in one end it's just deep enough so you can sit and the water to reach up to your shoulders, in the other end you don't even reach the floor. It's got several more water/bubble types, too."

"Why didn't I get to know about this before?" James asked towards the sky. "Look! It's even got better towels!"

Lily smiled, and opened the prize. It was a big 'silver' cup with a dancing pair: inside the shell it was full of assorted chocolates. She sat down on the tiled floor, and popped one of the chocolates into her mouth. "Mmm! Strawberry filling! You've gotta try this one, James."

James sat down beside her and looked at the paper the chocolate had been in. He rummaged through the pile inside their prize.

"Can't find it," he said. Lily looked at him, then smiled. She leaned forward and kissed him – this time with open mouth. James opened his eyes in surprise. "You're right," he said as they – reluctantly – pulled away. "It tasted good."

Several chocolates later...

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Did you say the bathtub was better than the one at the Prefects'?"

A/N: I hope you didn't think that part of the Ball sucked, because I wasn't satisfied with it myself. But I just thought that I had to finish this chapter, and didn't come up with another idea at how Lily and James where going to dance the mambo, so...

Hope you liked this as much as you did the others!

aurora borealis~


	5. Christmas

Disclaimer: See the first one if you really are interested

Disclaimer: See the first one if you really are interested.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Just one thing: It was _not_ a cliff hanger, and what happened in the bathroom _you_ have to decide. I don't know.

Oh, and this is the last chapter! *dances around with glee, singing 'I've finished a story, I've finished a story'* I won't write a sequel, I think – although if everybody beg me to (I doubt it) I'll consider it. The truth is that I neither have the time nor the ideas (not yet) for a sequel. So there!

****

You make me sick

Chapter five: Christmas

"Bye, Lily," Molly waved. Lily waved back, and turned to go out of platform 9 3/4. She went right into James' arms.

"Hi, dummy," she smiled.

"Hi, flower," he smiled back.

"Where were you on the train?"

"I just had to finish some stuff with the others." She raised an eyebrow. 'Stuff with the others' meant 'pranks with Sirius, Remus and Peter'. But she didn't comment it: James was a prankster, after all. He had to do his hobby once in a while. "Promise to write me, okay?"

"You too," she said and kissed him.

"Be careful," James warned. "Voldemort is gaining power, you know."

"It's hard to think about," Lily said, hugging him. "I mean, at school it's like he never even lived, and now when I'm going to the muggle world..."

"I know," James said, holding her tight. "Don't make it ruin your holiday, though."

"I won't need Voldemort for _that_," Lily said ruefully as they went through the barrier together. "Petunia's doing a great job by herself."

James laughed and kissed her. "See you after Christmas, Petal."

"Yeah," she smiled up at him and went over to her waiting parents.

"Tiger!" her father grinned and lifted her up in a big, rib crushing bear hug.

"Dad," she said, "I've gotta _breathe_ too, you know." He let her down. "Mum," Lily smiled and hugged her mother.

"Hi, honey," her mother smiled back. "How have you been?"

"Okay," Lily shrugged.

"Who was that boy you were talking to?" she asked curiously, a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, that was just James," Lily said as indifferent as she could. "A boy at school."

"Awfully messy hair," her mother noted. "Seems like you get along, though."

"_Mum._"

"She's just teasing you, Lily," her father grinned. Lily grumbled a bit.

"Looks like Petunia didn't bother to come this time either," she said. Her mother and father exchanged a worried glance.

"Look, honey," her mother began.

"It's okay," Lily interrupted. "It's not like it matters or something."

"Come on, Tiger," her father tried to light up the mood. "It's Christmas."

"Yeah," Lily smiled up at him. They went into the car and drove home.

***

"Lily, there's something you should know," her mother said when they were nearly home.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Petunia's engaged now," her father said.

"Oh." _Who the hell would want to marry Petunia?!_

"He's going to visit us on Christmas Eve," her mother said. "Now, we know that you and Petunia isn't on the best of terms-"

Lily snorted sarcastically.

"-but, please try to be nice to him, okay?" Her mother looked at her.

"Okay," Lily said.

"Good." Her parents looked relieved. "Now, we didn't find it safe yet to tell him about the magic world, so you've just been to a boarding school, okay?"

"Great," Lily muttered, but nodded.

***

"Petunia!" Lily's mother called. "We're home!"

No response.

"Petunia!" her father called.

Still no response.

"Forget it, dad," Lily said. "She's not coming down. I'll just go up and unpack now if that's okay."

"Okay, Tiger," her father smiled sadly. Her mother sighed.

"I'll start on dinner," she said resigned and went into the kitchen. Lily dragged her trunk up the stairs and into her room. She dropped it down and flung herself onto her bed. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

She remembered last summer when working with her Astronomy homework (note down the movement of the stars for one month): The weather was cloudy, so she couldn't see the stars at night. Having nothing else to do and only five weeks left of the summer holiday, she persuaded her parents to let her paint her ceiling into a copy of the night sky. After seeking permission from the Ministry (after all, it was magic use) she had bewitched the stars and planets to go in their paths, just like the original night sky. Petunia, of course, had a fit when she saw it. She had been in Lily's room for some unknown reason – Lily suspected she had been sneaking around in her (Lily's) stuff, but didn't say it out loud because her mother would get mad. Petunia yelling at her had been quite enough, thank you.

Lily sighed and started to take all the Christmas presents to her friends out from her trunk. Four little bags from Honeydukes: Sugar quills for Marybelle, Every Flavour Beans for Kathy, Chocolate Frogs for Pennie and Chess Caramels for Syn. Nicki would get some stuff from Zonko's and a guideline over all the things from Zonko's (she had started hanging around with Sirius – she was going to need it). Molly and Laura had been a problem, but Lily had found a book about fairies (Laura loved fairies) and an Italian cookbook (Molly was – even then – obsessed with cooking).

She rather liked the gift for Remus. Although he was almost as mischievous as James and Sirius, she didn't feel like giving him something from Zonko's. Instead, she would give him a magical Goosebumps book. Sirius had been easy: She had just got him a gift certificate from Zonko's.

She had had no idea what to give James. She couldn't just give him something from Honeydukes or Zonko's, not a book either: that was for friends, not your boyfriend. _Funny..._ Lily thought. _Three months ago I would rather go out with Snape than date James..._ In the end, she had asked Molly for help. _"You have to balance it,"_ Molly had said. _"Not too 'friend'-like, but not _too_ affectionate, either. You can't just give him a big, red, fluffy heart pillow, but you can't just give him...plain socks, either. You've gotta find a go-between."_

"Socks with hearts on them? He would sure like that_."_

"It was just an example."

In the end, she had found a chessboard and chessmen of black and white glass. She had tried to knit a pair of socks with a pattern of Snitches, but they came out with too small feet and too wide ankles, and the Snitches were more quadratic than round. She solved the problem by using the socks as wrapping for the chessboard.

"Dinner!" her mother called from downstairs. Lily got up with a little sigh. She hoped Petunia wouldn't be particularly nasty – but she doubted it.

She was right, of course.

***

The next couple of days was a living hell. Their parents had to work, so most of the day Lily and Petunia was home alone. When their parents were there, Petunia would just act icy towards Lily. When they were _not_ there, it was Lily's-a-freak time. Although Petunia spent most of her time with her 'darling Vernon', there were plenty of times where she was at home, watching soap operas. She then refused to let Lily into the living room, and stood guard every time Lily went downstairs. When Lily would go to or from the kitchen, comments like 'Do you have a boyfriend? Hah! Didn't think so.' and 'My Vernon gives me gifts _every_ time we go out.' would drift through the door. Lily ignored her.

But one time, just one day before Christmas, Petunia cracked.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, blocking Lily's way out of the kitchen.

"I live here," Lily said impatiently.

"You're not my sister!" Petunia yelled. "I hate you! Get out!"

"Get a grip," Lily said and shoved her way past Petunia and up the stairs.

"Hey! I'm not finished! Get down here!"

"Make up your mind," Lily said, turning towards Petunia again.

"You don't belong here, you know that?" Petunia's voice was filled with venom. "You're a freak. Not my sister. A freak. That's what you are. I'm never going to talk to you again."

"Good," Lily said and went up the stairs. She wanted to slam the door to her room shut, but that would just satisfy Petunia. Instead, she hit her pillow again and again. _Why does she have to be such a jerk?_ she thought. _It's not like I did _anything_ to her...besides _being here. Lily rolled over on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. _Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. Hurray. The mysterious fianceé makes his entrance. He must be desperate to be engaged to Petunia. Yuk._

***

"Lily, could you set the table?"

"Why can't Petunia do it? Oh, right, she's _getting ready_. How could I forget? She's been doing it for _three hours_ already."

"Be nice," her mother frowned, handing Lily the dishes.

"It's true, mum. And it's just Christmas dinner, not a Grand Ball."

"Lily." Her mother's voice stopped her. Lily turned towards her again. "Please be nice when Vernon arrives, okay?"

Lily smiled reassuringly. "Of course, mum." _I'm not like my sister._

Just then, the door bell rang.

"I'll take it!" Petunia yelled from the stairs. She ran down the stairs, stopped in front of the all figure mirror in the corridor to check her hair one last time, and opened the door. Lily hurried into the living room, not wanting to see Petunia's mask of make up kiss Vernon. _How can she live with so much make up?_ Lily wondered. _The layer's an inch thick!_

From the corridor, she heard her mother and father greet Vernon. "Hello, Vernon. You arrived just in time for dinner."  
"Good," a gruffy voice said. "I'm hungry." Petunia laughed a braindead little laugh that made Lily want to gag.

"Let's go in," her father said.

"This is Lily, Petunia's sister," her mother introduced them. "Lily, Vernon. Vernon, Lily."

"Hi," Lily said and shook Vernon's hand.

"Hi." He rubbed his hands. "So. Let's start to eat, eh?"

***

Lily's first thought/impression of Vernon Dursley was: _He's fat._ The second one was: _No wonder: he eats as much as a horse._ When she reached _How many chins does he have?_ and _Where is his neck?_ they had all started talking about pleasant things like drills, the weather, drills, when Vernon and Petunia would get married (due in half a year), drills, Vernon's house, and drills. Vernon was (obviously) obsessed with drills. He was second manager in a drill company, and expected to take it over when the present manager finally became too old, which would probably be soon (Vernon talked about this with very much enthusiasm).

All the time, Petunia was clinging to Vernon like a leech, practically drooling. Lily found it very disgusting, although Vernon didn't seem to mind: rather the opposite. Finally it was time to open the presents. Petunia was at least satisfied with the Beauty Box Lily had given her, and her parents loved the books she had given them: her father got 'Quidditch through times' (he had been very interested when she had mentioned it) and her mother got 'Herblore'.

From Molly and Laura she got a huge book about charms, and Remus had given her a CD with dance music (she loved that one too). From Sirius came a bag full of assorted chocolates (she made a mental note not to try any of them before she had looked for jinxes). Nicki had given her some hair stuff (hairbands and so on), but the other girls had given her stuff from Honeydukes or Zonko's. She didn't really mind – that was what she had given them, after all.

She opened her present from her parents, and smiled at the green sweater. _No matter how old I'll be, they'll always give me clothes. Not that I mind, of course._ She smiled and hugged them thanks. Petunia only gave her one pound (undoubtfully originally from her parents), and they only said a short thanks to each other.

Then it was only one package left. It was small, with black and silver wrapping paper. The wrapping paper revealed a little box in a deep blue colour. Lily smiled a little, and opened the box. She gasped.

Inside was a small silver heart, a little bigger than her thumb nail, hanging on a fine silver chain. It had a lily engraved on the front side, and when she turned it, she saw tiny words engraved on it: _Lily and James._ She smiled again, and took it around her neck. Behind her, Petunia gasped.

"Who's _that_ from?" she asked.

"A friend," Lily said shortly – she didn't want to tell Petunia about James. Then she _would_ have a fit. She tucked the necklace into her pocket. Petunia glared at her.

"So," she said, her voice filled with hateful malice. "You've got a _friend_, have you?" Lily didn't say anything: she didn't have to either. "How come you've never told me, eh? I'm your _sister_."

"Oh? You sure change your mind often," Lily said coolly. Petunia advanced on Lily, but their mother's voice stopped her.

"Stop it, Petunia. Lily, could you take the garbage bags to the container?"

"Yes," Lily said and went into the kitchen to get the garbage. It was a feeble excuse to get her out of the way, but she didn't want to be there right now, just as much as her mother didn't want her to. As she took on her winter coat – it was late, and cold – Vernon came out of the living room, taking on his coat as well.

"Your mother asked me to help you," he said.

"Sure," Lily shrugged.

They went out into the biting cold. Lily buried herself down in the warm neck of her coat, walking with the garbage bags down the street. The one drawback about their house was that the street they lived in had a common garbage container. And of course, it had to be at the exact opposite end of the street from their house. Therefore, Lily had to go 500 metres – just to throw their garbage. Not that she minded now – she was happy to get away a little.

They walked in silence, neither wanting to speak. But as they got to the container, Vernon cleared his throat.

"So, how long has you and Petunia been...er..." he faltered.

"When did we fall out, you mean?" Lily threw the bags into the container. "I don't know. Five years ago, perhaps." _That's when I got my letter from Hogwarts._

"Oh. So, er, why do you hate each other?"

"Ask Petunia," Lily said shortly. "It's her fault."

"Now, listen here," Vernon came to Petunia's defence. "Petunia's a very nice girl, you know. Sensible."

Lily snorted. "As if. You've been given the 'Hi-I'm-a-cute-little-girl' personality. You don't know half of it." She knew she probably shouldn't talk about Petunia that way with Vernon – he was Petunia's fianceé, after all – but she didn't give a damn.

"And you do?" Vernon said in a low, dangerous voice. (Ok, he _tried_ to sound dangerous.)

"Hey, I'm her sister. I've known her for sixteen years. And you have known her for, what? Two years?"

"Three. You know, Petunia has never mentioned you."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Lily said. "She hates me, after all." _Why do I speak about this with this...stranger?_

"And you don't hate her?" Vernon asked. He sounded a lot like an interrogator.

"Why do you ask?" Lily countered.

"I have to know _some_ stuff here before we – Petunia and I – wed."

"Right. Well, I've learned to hate her as well. But not the way she hates me. Satisfied?"

"No... I wondered, what is th- what the hell is _that?!_" Vernon pointed towards Lily's house. Over it was green smoke, formed into a scull with a snake slithering through.

"Oh, no," Lily whispered. "Please don't let them be..." She started to run towards her house, as it started to erupt in flames.

As she reached the house, Petunia ran out of it, coughing.

"Where is mum and dad?" Lily asked. Petunia sobbed.

"They're...inside there..." she collapsed onto the lawn. Lily ran into the house, holding her collar over her mouth and nose.

She found them in the living room. They lay on the floor, expressions of shock on their faces. There was no evidence of blood, Lily didn't have to check to know that they were dead.

__

Voldemort. Avada Kedavra. She sobbed, and ran out of the house again, just as the flames caused the doorway to the living room to fall in. She felt her knees collapse, and sat down on the lawn beside Petunia, who were being comforted by Vernon.

__

How could he get there so fast? she thought as silent tears trickled down her cheeks. _I was only gone a minute. Why did he have to kill _them_?_ Realisation struck her. _If I didn't go out with the garbage, I would be dead too. It was _me_ he came for. They were just a bonus. Oh, god. Petunia must feel horrible._

Lily turned towards her sister. "Are you okay?" she asked. Petunia looked up from Vernon's shoulder.

"Don't you _dare_ ask me if I'm okay! This was all _your_ fault! If it weren't for you, they would still live!" She broke into tears again and Vernon hugged her protectively.

"There, there," he said in his gruff voice, trying to sound soothing. "She won't hurt you."

Lily felt a pang of anger and guilt. Petunia acted like it was _Lily_ who had killed them! But then, she was right...sort of... Lily buried her head in her hands and cried.

***

"Is there anything we can do for you?" the witch from the Ministry asked. Lily shook her head. She and Petunia had retold the entire evening to the witch, and had only finished two o'clock in the morning. Lily had slept on one of the couches in the witch's office, but Petunia had preferred going with Vernon to his house.

The witch looked at Lily. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lily said tired. "I'm fine."

The witch nodded and pursed her lips a little. "Do you have a place to live?" Lily gave a start. She had forgot that her house had burned down. She shook her head. _The only people who cared about me was my parents. Petunia has made it quite clear she won't allow me to live with her and Vernon, not that I want to...I don't want to live with someone who doesn't care about me._ She rummaged through her pockets, looking for some money so she at least could live in the Leaking Cauldron in Diagon Alley 'till school started again. What was that? She took out the silver necklace, and looked at the little heart with a faint smile. _Maybe I have somewhere to live after all._


	6. Epilogue

Disclaimer: You know

Disclaimer: You know. Blah.

A/N: I can't believe I actually wrote more on this fic. Well, congratulations, people. You actually made me write more. Aren't you proud now?

Most of the reason you get this, is because I got a sudden idea when I was at our cottage, watching as my nephew toddled around in only his diapers (don't ask). I guess it had been my subconsciouness pondering about a suggestion from Goosie Gal. Thank her.

Well, here's my epilogue – how James comforted Lily and so on. And don't you come here and complain about how short it is, that the POV's crap and that it sucks, because I'm totally aware of that.

****

You Make Me Sick

Chapter 6: Epilogue

"So, Prongs," Sirius said casually, leaning over his huge motorbike.

James sighed. He knew where this was leading. "Yes?"

"What _really_ happened after you and Lily quit the ball?"

"I've _told_ you: nothing."

"Yeah, you haven't said anything about it."

"Yes I have." James continued to read his comic. "Nothing happened, Sirius."

"So you just ate up your whole prize without sharing with any of your friends, that's it?"

"Yep." James turned a page. Auror Sheridan Holes was investigating a murder, and had some difficulties with a warlock who 'ain't seen nothin' '. The fact that the warlock was _blind_ was, of course, beside the point. "And don't complain – we spared a chocolate for you."

"Yeah," Sirius admitted. "One that tasted _coffee._" James shrugged indifferently. "Come _on_, Prongs," Sirius said, hugging at his arm. "Spill it."

"There's nothing to _spill_!" James protested, abandoning his comic at last.

"So why weren't you in the Common Room?"

"We went to the Head Students' bathroom."

"Ooo, this is getting _in_teresting." If Sirius had been in his dog-form, his tail would have wagged.

"Ad we ate our chocolates," James finished.

"And...?"

"And we took a bath," James said in his 'I'm-speaking-to-a-baby' tone.

"Wheeee! A bathtub scene!" Sirius grinned.

"With swimsuits on," James finished.

"Aw!" Sirius looked like a puppy who had lost his favourite bone. "That's not fair."

"Poor Padfoot," James said in mock sympathy. "Not!"

"Oh, shut up and help me with this spanner. It's stuck." Sirius jerked on the spanner. It didn't move. "See?"

"Yeah..." James took a hold on the spanner too. It got a bit cramped. "On three," he said. "One...two...th-"

"Hi," a voice from the door said, just as they pulled on the spanner.

"Not so hard, Sirius!" James yelled.

__

KLANK!

Too late. The two best friends turned to see Lily sprawling on the floor just inside the garage, the handle lying beside her. A big, red knob was emerging on her brow.

"Oops," Sirius said.

***

Lily emerged from a grey haze, just to hear Sirius and James' worried voices over her. Well, at least James sounded worried.

"Do you think she's alright?" James asked.

"Sure. She's thick-sculled," Sirius joked.

"Ha. Ha."

"I just think we're lucky that your parents aren't home," Sirius said. "Your mother would have a fit."

"Oh, yes," James agreed.

"Do you think we should splash her?" Sirius sounded eager.

"No."

"Oh, come on," Sirius said. "It's not like she's going to get more wet; she's soaked already!"

"No..."

"Puh-leeeeze, Prongs?"

"Well, it would have been fun, but..."

__

That's it, lily thought. "No, thanks, Sirius," she said and opened her eyes. "I've already showered."

Sirius gave a little yelp. "You're _awake_?!"

"What does it look like? Give me a hand up, please." The boys took one hand each and pulled her up. "Thanks," she said.

"Maybe we should get you to the living room or something. Then you can lie down on the couch," James said. 

"Yeah..." Lily said and shrugged away James' supporting hand. "I can walk by myself, James." She took a step. Then another. Her knees gave away.

"Whoa!" James said and caught her.

"Walk by yourself, eh?" Sirius said, taking his arm under hers on the opposite side of James. "Man, you _are_ soaked!"

"And cold." James mimicked Sirius' grip on Lily, steadying her more. They went out into the rain and ran into the shelter of James' house, James and Sirius supporting Lily all the time. "Forget the couch," James said when they got into the hallway. "You're going straight to a hot bath."

"No arguments from me," Lily got out through chattering teeth.

"Let's get her up," James said to Sirius. After failing to climb the stairs by herself, James and Sirius decided to carry Lily.

"Why couldn't you have the bathroom on the ground floor," Sirius complained from Lily's feet.

"I've wondered about that, too," James panted.

"At least you could have picked a _light_ girlfriend," Sirius said. "Where she hides the pounds is way beyond me."

"I heard that," Lily murmured.

They reached the top of the stairs, and the two boys put Lily gingerly down.

"Go and fill the bathtub, willya Sirius?" James said, panting a little from carrying Lily up twenty steps.

"Yeah yeah," Sirius grumbled, and went down the corridor and into the bathroom. Lily could hear the water starting to run.

"Come on," James said and hauled her up again. Much as she wanted to just sit there, she let herself be led down the corridor and into the bathroom, where Sirius was pouring bath oils into the tub.

"No tricks, Padfoot," James warned.

"Yeah yeah." Sirius sighed this time. "I'm not _totally_ lacking timing, you know."

"You aren't?" Lily was too tired to try and feign a surprised look.

"You just had to, didn't you," Sirius said. It wasn't even a question. He looked at the tub, and decided that it was full enough. He switched the taps off. Lily just stared at the tub.

"Okay, you better take your clothes off before you go into it," James said after a minute.

"Yeah..." Lily made a feeble attempt at pulling off her dripping wet sweater. She was too tired that she didn't even manage to pull her arm out of the sleeve.

James sighed. "You better go out, Sirius," he said.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Well, are you going to stand there and _watch_?"

"Um...no...I guess not," Sirius said. "Aren't you going to go out too?"

"I'll just help her get her clothes off. Then I'll go out too," James said.

"Uh-huh." Sirius sounded disbelieving, but went out of the bathroom and shut the door.

James turned to Lily. "Are you going to _try_ and help?" he asked. Lily thought about it. She felt utterly drained of energy.

"I don't think I'll manage," she said truthfully. James sighed again.

"Okay. Raise your hands above your head." Lily obliged. James pulled off her sweater. There was a moment of silence. "You never told me you didn't have anything under it," James said.

"I have a bra," Lily protested.

"Well, yeah, but..."

"You've seen me in bikini, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So what's the big deal?" Lily looked at him. He was blushing.

"Nothing..." he mumbled. Despite herself, Lily laughed. It wasn't a very hearty laugh, but still..._Weird that James can make me laugh just by being him...three months ago and I would've **screamed** just by being him..._

"Oh, James, you are such a sweetie sometimes," she smiled at him.

"I am?"

"Yeah, even when you're staring at my cleavage." James reddened even more and looked up in her eyes instead. _Oh, he has such beautiful soft eyes..._

"Can you manage to get your jeans off without me?" he asked. Lily had a feeling he was trying hard to look anywhere else than just below her neck.

"If you pull," she said. She didn't feel like wriggling herself out of a pair of clammy, tight jeans. James nodded and she grabbed the edge of the bathtub, lying down on the floor. He took a tight grip on the jeans leg and pulled. After a minute of grunting and pulling, James got the jeans off her. When Lily turned and stood up, he had turned around, facing the door. Lily was a bit relieved that she wouldn't have to ask him – she felt too tired even for that – and pulled of her bra (she just didn't bother with the panties), slipping into the bathtub. The water was hot against her cold skin, and for a moment Lily just wanted to jump up again, but kept still. She made sure that the foam from the bath oils covered her, before she said to James:

"Okay, you can turn around again now." James turned, and smiled at her. He came over to the bathtub and sat down beside it.

"Is that better?" he asked, his eyes warm and caring.

"Yeah, I'm not so cold anymore," Lily said. She leaned back against the tub and relaxed. "I'm still wet, though."

James smiled again. "Yeah. Well, I better get downstairs to Sirius and give you some privacy." He made a move to get up, but Lily stopped him, clutching his arm with a wet hand.

"Don't," she said, desperation getting the better of her. _I don't want to be alone again..._ "Please. Stay."

He looked a bit confused, but sat down again beside her and held her hand. They sat like that for a while, him outside the tub and her in it, as Lily slowly felt warm creep through her body again. With it came the aching feeling of loss...Lily tried to press it down.

After what seemed like hours with none of them talking, James cleared his throat. "So, Lily...Why did you come here anyway? Is there something wrong?"

Lily couldn't stand it anymore. At his words the wall she had been carefully building against the anguish and pain broke, and she burst into tears.

How she got into his lap she didn't quite know. The only thing she was aware of was James' protective arms around her, rocking her gently as a little child and his voice saying soothing noises as she cried on his shoulder, telling him the whole story from she went out with the garbage to taking the Knight Bus to his house.

"There, there," he whispered, kissing her on top of her head again and again, holding her close. "Everything's going to be okay." She relished the feel of him against her, her head on his shoulder and her arms against his chest. At last she stopped sobbing, and took a long, quavering breath, nuzzling her head into the bend between his shoulder and his neck. He stroked her hair and kissed her on her forehead.

"You okay now?" he asked gently, still holding her close to him.

She took another deep breath, a little steadier now, and nodded. "I think so," she said.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

She thought about it. "Will you be there?"

She felt his cheek go red against hers. "No, but I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"...Okay." She reluctantly pulled away from him, and stood up. She caught herself in the mirror, and blushed too. She had completely forgotten that she was only wearing her panties. James had turned away from her, rummaging through a drawer.

"Here," he said and handed her a towel, still with his back to her. She took it gratefully and draped herself in it. It reached down to her knees. "Come on," he said and opened the bathroom door. He looked at her and blushed again. "Do you...need any help?" he asked awkwardly.

"An arm would be nice," Lily said. She felt even more drained now. She had thought she had been out of tears. He went back to her and put his hand around her waist. She placed one hand around his shoulders, the other one securing the towel so it wouldn't fall down.

James led her out and just across the corridor, opening the door to a bedroom. He helped her onto the bed, and spread the comforter over her.

"I'll be downstairs," he whispered. She nodded drowsily, managing a weak smile for his concerned gaze.

She was asleep by the time he shut the door.

***

Sirius was waiting at the foot of the stairs as James came down.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"She didn't want me to leave," James replied. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And it was nothing like that."

"Yeah yeah," Sirius said for the third time since Lily had got there. "Why is she here, anyway? Did she miss you that much?"

James didn't return Sirius' grin. "For your information, Sirius, her parents died two days ago."

Sirius' grin was wiped out in a blink. "Oh, fuck," he said. "On Christmas Eve? Don't say it was-"

"Yes, it was Voldemort," James interrupted. "At least he's the only one we know of who use the _Avada Kedavra_, right?"

Now Sirius was looking downright guilty. "Jeez, I'm so sorry, Prongs, I-"

"I'm okay. It's Lily you should pay your condolences to." They went into the kitchen. James dearly needed something to drink. Hopefully something strong.

"How is she?" Sirius asked, finding the bourbon James' father had hidden in a 'secret place' under the sink. He poured James a glass, without asking and, after a slight hesitation, poured one to himself too.

James drank and swallowed, his eyes watering a little. He wasn't used to drink other than Butterbeer. "She's asleep in my room now. She must be exhausted." James didn't think he would tell Sirius about Lily's break down just yet.

"Poor girl," Sirius said, nodding. "How did she get here, anyway?"

"The Knight Bus," James answered.

"But I thought it couldn't get to your house because of those old wards your family's got around the house!"

"That's how she got so wet."

Sirius sighed, and drained his glass. "Well," he said, "I'm off to bed too. It's nearly midnight and I'm up to no fun after having to carry your girlfriend all over the place." He walked off to one of the guest rooms, which he had adopted as his after his first visit to the Potters. James smiled a little, before draining his glass too and putting the bottle of bourbon under the sink again. Suddenly he felt bone tired. Comforting Lily was sure an energy craving business. He dragged himself up the stairs and over to his room. He stopped short as he was to take of his jeans, remembering that the bed was already occupied. _Oh, to hell with it_, he thought, and took if his t shirt. He was too tired to go to down to the couch in the living room, and he couldn't use his parents' room since they would get home later tonight. _Shit. What will my parents say?_ Surprisingly, James found out he didn't give a damn. With that thought in mind, he laid down, covering himself with the quilt against the slightly chill of the room and fell asleep, one arm around Lily's slender shoulders protectively.

***

James woke up the next morning by his mother poking her head inside the room.

"James?" she asked. "Are you awake? I just wanted you to know that breakfast will be ready in- oh. Who is that?"

James woke up entirely when he remembered that the 'thing' that was so nicely curled up beside him, an arm over his chest, wasn't his comforter entangled around him again, but Lily. He felt himself blush. "Oh, right. Um, this is Lily Evans, mum. She's the girl at school I've been talking about."

"Ah." A good sign: his mother wasn't yelling at him yet. Maybe there was hope.

"Her parents died almost three days ago," James explained.

"Yes, I know." His mother's voice managed to sound very sad at the same time as amused. She paused a moment, looking at Lily's peaceful face as she slept in her son's arms. "Don't wait too long to get up," was the only thing she said as she closed the door and went downstairs again.

***

Lily emerged from her first sleep without nightmares for two days as the light grew steadily lighter. She tried to fight it, but gave up at last as she woke up. She nuzzled down in her big, rather hard but still very comfy pillow, patting it a bit to make it better. She stopped a moment, trying to focus her brain enough to think. Big, hard but comfy pillow with...hair? She patted some more. Yes. Definitely hair. And muscles. When did pillows get muscles? The warm comforter surrounding her waist squeezed her a little. She patted it. That one was hairy and full of muscles too. She reluctantly opened her eyes, one at a time.

Yep. Her pillow was a chest, all right. She looked down. An arm was holding her around the waist. She looked up. James was smiling down at her, his smile warming her right down to her toes.

"Hi, Petal," he said. "Slept well?" She smiled and yawned, nodding.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah." They looked at each other for a moment. James sighed. "Well, I guess we have to go down and eat breakfast soon, before Sirius thinks about going up and check on us."

Lily sighed too. "Yeah, I guess so." She laid her head down on his chest again, savouring the feeling of him; warm, protective. After a while she let go and he rolled over, standing up and going over to a closet. He rummaged through it and turned to her again, tossing a t shirt to her.

"I guess you can borrow something from mother later," he said. "You didn't bring anything with you, did you?"

"Just what I came in," Lily shrugged. He turned politely away, and she put on the t shirt. It was only slightly big – James wasn't really the broad type. He handed her some sweatpants too. Lily was glad he had some – she didn't really feel like going in her tattered jeans from the day before, neither did she want to go in some of _his_ jeans; they was bound not to fit.

She turned the other way as she pulled the pants on, and James put on his clothes too. Not that she didn't mind seeing him in boxers...it was the fact that he would probably want to change them to fresh ones that made her turn around. _He probably has a nice butt too..._

Lily, you dirty girl.

"Okay," he said. They turned towards each other at the same time, and blushed a little. Lily came towards him, and they met in a hug. "Come on," he said, and kissed her head, an arm snaking around her waist. "Let's go down." Just as his free hand went for the door handle, she stopped him. She looked up at him, and found him meeting her eyes. She studied his features, searching for something. She found it.

"Just wanted to let you know..." she said, hugging him to her again, but never letting go of his eyes. She paused a little, before mustering the courage to say it. "I love you."

A smile broke onto his face, a smile containing the sun itself, warming her from her head to her toes, warming and mending her aching heart. He kissed her, soft and passionate at the same time, and looked into her eyes. She knew it before he uttered the first word.

"I love you too," he said. 

She smiled, a real, true smile this time, and kissed him. It was just like the first time they had kissed. Her whole body was tingling. 

"Ready to meet my parents?" James asked, a smile still twinkling in his eyes.

Lily looked up at him again. "Yes," she said, and opened the door.

They were together now. Nothing could tear them apart.

THE END. FINITO. SLUTT. DAS ENDE. FINITE. 

A/N: I hope you're satisfied this time. Because now I MEAN it.


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